New York Lottery’s Yolanda Vega awarded a Waverly man with his $1,000,000 Lottery prize check on Thursday 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 twenties, a five 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.
Briggs added, “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.
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