The New York Lottery’s Yolanda Vega awarded a Waverly man with his $1,000,000 Lottery prize check today at the Great New York State Fair. Forty-three-year-old Neil Briggs purchased one $1,000,000 Large scratch-off ticket during an unplanned stop for two bags of ice he had forgotten to buy earlier in the day.  The ticket he purchased turned out to be a $1,000,000 winner.

“I ran all my errands earlier that day, but I forgot to buy two bags of ice,” explained Briggs. “I ran down to the store to grab the ice and decided to buy a Lottery ticket while I was there.”

Briggs explained that he rarely plays scratch-off tickets, but he had a few extra dollars on him and decided to take a chance. “I had two 20s, a 5 and three singles on me.  I can’t justify paying $20 for a Lottery ticket and the dollar tickets really don’t pay a lot so I went with the five dollar ticket.”

Briggs purchased his million dollar winner at the Jolly Farmer on Elizabeth Street in Waverly. “I scratched the ticket and didn’t really know what the word jackpot meant.  I brought it back to the store and the guy behind the counter scanned it and told me it was worth a million dollars.  Up until that point I had no idea I won that much!”

Briggs opted to receive his prize as a one-time lump sum payment. He will receive a net check totaling $536,058 after required withholdings.

“This really is unbelievable,” explained Briggs. “I plan to use to money to buy a new house for my family and put my two children through college.”

The New York Lottery contributed $13,417,748 in Lottery Aid to Education to school districts in Tioga 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.