Walden Man Rings in the New Year with $5,000,000 Scratch-Off Win

FISHKILL, NY (01/18/2012)(readMedia)-- Donnie Hayes of Walden, Orange County, started 2012 with a bang. The 59-year-old circus concession worker was in New York City on New Year's Eve and decided to purchase a Mega Money Multiplier scratch-off ticket to help ring in the New Year. The ticket he purchased turned out to be a jackpot winner, earning him a $5,000,000 pay day.

"I like to play the Lottery's scratch-off tickets, but this is the first $20 ticket I ever bought," said Hayes. "I was in the City working on New Year's Eve and decided to give this ticket a shot. I had the winner in my pocket as I counted down to the New Year."

Hayes bought his winning ticket at Shami Smoke & Magazine in Lincoln Plaza in Manhattan on December 31, 2011. He claimed his prize at the Lottery's Customer Service Center in Fishkill on January 3, 2012. The $5,000,000 top prize on the Mega Money Multiplier ticket is paid out as a one-time lump sum payment. Hayes will receive one net payment totaling $3,309,000.

"My coworkers see me scratching the Lottery tickets, and they call me a lucky rascal. Well this lucky rascal is going to retire and move to Georgia to be closer to family," explained the newly minted Lottery millionaire.

Hayes is the second New Yorker to win the $5,000,000 top prize on the popular Mega Money Multiplier scratch-off ticket. The first jackpot winning ticket was purchased by Edwin Zhingre of Queens Village in December 2011.

About the New York Lottery

The New York Lottery continues to be North America's largest and most profitable Lottery, contributing over $3 billion in fiscal year 2010-2011 to help support education in New York State. The Lottery's aid represents over 15 percent of total state education funding to local school districts.

Lottery revenue is distributed to local school districts by the same statutory formula used to distribute other state aid to education. It takes into account both a school district's size and its income level; larger, lower-income school districts receive proportionately larger shares of Lottery school funding.

###