Boonville is home to New York’s “Unluckiest” Lottery Millionaire

BOONVILLE, NY (12/17/2009)(readMedia)– Fifty-four-year-old Patricia Kelley of Boonville, Oneida County, doesn’t like to call herself a “lucky person” even though the working mother of two won a $1,000,000 Sweet Million Lottery jackpot within six months of purchasing her first-ever Lottery ticket.

“I don’t have any luck,” she said as a matter of fact. “I started buying tickets on the off-chance that I might win something.”

Kelley works as a cashier at the Big M supermarket on Route 12 and Woodgate Drive in Boonville. She purchased her winning ticket for the November 16th Sweet Million drawing after her shift at the store ended, but didn’t think to check her winning numbers until late the next day.

“There were rumors floating around that one of my neighbors won the jackpot,” said Kelley. “I decided I better check my ticket to see if I won anything. I went to the Lottery website (www.nylottery.org) and that’s when I realized it wasn’t a neighbor, it was me!”

Kelley said she asked her son and daughter, ages 22 and 26 respectively, to double-check the ticket before calling her husband, a truck driver. “I told him to pull over because I had some big news,” she recalled. “He was as shocked as the rest of us.”

Kelley claimed her $1,000,000 Sweet Million ticket on November 23rd at the Lottery’s Customer Service Center in Syracuse. When asked about the delay in claiming her windfall, Kelley said, she didn’t want to miss a day of work.

“I enjoy my job,” she said. “I enjoy the people I work with and the people who pass by the register.” Kelley said she plans to continue working knowing that “life will be a little bit easier, but” she added, “I don’t want to be treated any differently. I just want to be me.”

Kelley will receive her $1,000,000 Sweet Million prize as a one-time lump sum payment. Her net check will total $660,300. She plans to use her windfall to put new siding on her house and help her children with their student loans. “This is a dream come true.”

The New York Lottery introduced the Lotto spin-off game, Sweet Million, in September 2009. The game offers players a twice weekly chance to win up to $1,000,000 in cash. In the event there are more than five $1,000,000 winners in a single game, each winner will receive an equal share of the total $5,000,000 top prize monies available for that drawing.

Boonville is home to New York’s “Unluckiest” Lottery Millionaire

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