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August 15, 2017

Saranac Lake Man is Set For Life with $5,000,000 Scratch-off Win

Semi-retired restaurant worker John Lewis, 56, of Saranac Lake, has claimed a top-prize on the Set For Life scratch-off game. Lewis is a snow bird who moved back to the North Country a few years ago to care for his ailing parents. He now tends bar in Lake Placid while waiting for his significant other, Mary, an OPWDD employee in Essex County, to reach retirement age so they can head back south together.

 

An “occasional Lottery player,” Lewis said he didn’t know whether to credit fate, luck, karma or an old family recipe for his big win.

 

“I ran to the store before work to get mushrooms for my spaghetti sauce,” he said. “It’s a two-day sauce my dad used to make.”

 

Lewis said he used $10 in change he received from his mushroom purchase to buy a single scratch-off from the vending machine at the end of the checkout aisle.

 

“I never put money in those things,” he said. “What possessed me to be in that store at that time with just the right amount of money in my hand for that machine I will never know. I have been asking myself that question over and over for days. In the end though, I’m just glad it was me.”

 

Lewis has chosen to receive his prize in annual payments, netting him $172,068 a year for the rest of his life.

 

Lewis said other than helping an immediate family member with medical bills, he is in no rush to spend his millions. “I was planning on working at something till the day I died. This may open a few more doors, but we’re happy with the life we have. It’s a good life.”

 

The New York Lottery contributed $3,042,945 in Lottery Aid to Education to school districts in Essex County during fiscal year 2016-2017.

 

About the New York Lottery

The New York Lottery continues to be North America’s largest and most profitable Lottery, contributing $3.27 billion in fiscal year 2016-2017 to help support education in New York State. The Lottery’s contribution represents approximately 14 percent of total state education aid to local school districts.

 

New York 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.

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