For Immediate Release:                                      Contact:  Communications Office

June 19, 2014                                                                       (518) 388-3415

                                                                           Find us on Facebook and Twitter.

ROCHESTER, N.Y. – Glenn Eaton, of Atlanta, Steuben County won a $1,000,000 Mega Millions prize from the May 27, 2014 drawing by changing just one part of his Lottery routine.

Eaton said he plays the Mega Millions game about once a week. On the day of the drawing, he went out to buy his wife a soda at Mikey’s Gas Mart on Wayland Street in North Cohocton, and decided to buy his ticket. Eaton said, “Something told me to buy a ticket for that night’s drawing.”

Eaton said he normally picks his own numbers, but that day he decided to buy a Quick Pick ticket instead. It was that change in his routine that made him to a new Lottery millionaire.

The next day Eaton went back to Mikey’s Gas Mart and scanned his ticket. That’s when he found out that he was a big winner. “I felt a little light headed and my hands started tingling when I realized I had won the one million dollar second prize,” Eaton said.

Eaton claimed his winning ticket on May 28 at the Lottery’s Buffalo Customer Service Center.

The $1,000,000 Mega Millions second prize is paid out as a one-time lump sum payment. Eaton will receive a net check totaling $661,800 after required withholdings. Eaton said his plans for the prize money include paying off his mortgage and taking a trip to Virginia to visit family.

The winning numbers for the May 27 Mega Millions drawing were 01-06-10-46-58, Megaball 13. 

He is the 81th New Yorker to claim a New York Lottery prize of $1,000,000 or more so far this year.

The New York Lottery contributed $26,946,178.92 in Lottery Aid To Education to school districts in Steuben County during fiscal year 2013-2014.

About the New York Lottery

The New York Lottery continues to be North America’s largest and most profitable Lottery, contributing $3.17 billion in fiscal year 2013-2014 to help support education in New York State.  The Lottery’s contribution represents 15 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.

About the New York State Gaming Commission

The New York State Gaming Commission regulates all aspects of gaming and gambling activity in the state, including horse racing and pari-mutuel wagering, class III Indian gaming, video lottery terminal facilities at race tracks, the state lottery and charitable gaming.