Twenty-year-old college student Erin Haggerty is $1,000,000 richer thanks to a small present from her mother while she was away at college. Diane Haggerty routinely sends her daughter greeting cards with scratch-off tickets in them. Haggerty received a St. Patrick’s Day card with a Win $1,000 a Week for Life ticket inside. When she scratched off three ‘LIFE’ symbols the business administration major won the guaranteed $1,000,000 top prize.

“I immediately had visions of living well after college,” explained Haggerty. “Then I went out and did one of my favorite things. I went shopping!”

Diane Haggerty purchased the jackpot winning ticket at the Wegmans on South Bridge Street in Corning. “I send tickets to my daughter and my nieces and nephews. It’s a little entertainment to break up the monotony and there are plenty of $1 and $2 tickets that you can buy without spending a lot of money.”

Haggerty chose to receive her prize $1,000,000 as a one-time lump sum payment. She will receive a net check totaling $536,090 after required withholdings.

“Now I can graduate and get a nicer apartment than most college grads can afford,” she explained. “My parents have other ideas though. They want me to invest and pay off my student loans. I suppose that’s a better idea.”

Haggerty is the 28^th New York Lottery player to win a prize of $1,000,000 or more in 2017.

The New York Lottery contributed $18,758,924 in Lottery Aid to Education to school districts in Chemung 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.