Sixty-one-year-old Timothy Emmons of Binghamton says he only plays the Lottery about once a month.  Last month Emmons won a few dollars on some scratch-off tickets and decided to reinvest his winnings and buy another ticket.  He purchased a $5 88 Fortunes ticket and won the $1,000,000 jackpot prize.

“I had a couple smaller winners which I used to buy some more tickets.  The 88 Fortunes ticket looked familiar and was the first $5 ticket on the rack so that’s the one I got,” Emmons explained.  He then went home and sat down to scratch his ticket.  “I started scratching the ticket and I got the coin symbol and thought ‘I won something.’  I scratched the prize and saw JACKPOT and thought ‘nah’.  I scratched around it looking for another prize and that’s when I realized I did win the jackpot.  At that point my hands started to shake a little,” Emmons continued.

Emmons opted to receive his $1,000,000 prize as a one-time lump sum payment.  He will receive a net check totaling $537,440 after required withholdings.

The first person Emmons contacted was his accountant.  “As I was talking to my accountant I realized I hadn’t called my wife yet. I called her but, she didn’t believe me.  I had put my accountant on the phone to confirm it!”

When asked how it feels to win the Lottery Emmons said, “You go thorough stages.  First was shock and denial, second was thinking what I was going to do now, and third was figuring out what to do.”

Broome county’s newest Lottery millionaire plans for the winnings include taking care of family, a vacation and saving towards retirement.

Emmons is the 32nd New York Lottery player to claim a prize totaling $1,000,000 or more in 2018.

The New York Lottery contributed $43,549,744 in Lottery Aid to Education to school districts in Broome 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.