The New York Lottery’s Gretchen Dizer presented an Oneida County Lottery player with a $1,000,000 prize check today at the store where he purchased his lucky Sweet Million ticket.

Philip Domser, 65, said he usually plays Powerball and Mega Millions, but his daughter Katy convinced him to give the Sweet Million game a try. The tickets he purchased at Byrne Dairy on Auert Annex Riverside in Utica ended up winning him the $1,000,000 top prize on the January 7 Sweet Million drawing.

Domser did not check his tickets until reading in the paper that a winning ticket had been sold at that Byrne Dairy location. Domser brought his tickets to the store and checked his numbers against the winning numbers print out. He immediately signed the ticket and drove to the Lottery’s Customer Service Center in Syracuse to claim his prize.

Domser will receive his $1,000,000 Sweet Million prize in one lump sum totaling $661,800 after required withholdings. Domser, a retired firefighter, will keep his part-time job as a school bus driver for Whitesboro Central School District. He said he plans to pay bills with his Lottery prize then decide how to spend the rest, “once the shock wears off.”

The New York Lottery contributed $51,941,044.18 in Lottery Aid To Education to school districts throughout Oneida County during fiscal year 2011-12.

About the New York Lottery

The New York Lottery continues to be North America’s largest and most profitable Lottery, contributing nearly $2.9 billion in fiscal year 2011-2012 to help support education in New York State.  The Lottery’s contribution represents nearly 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.