Twenty-Six-Year-Old is First Million Dollar Smooth 7s Winner Statewide

October 29, 2009-Twenty-six-year-old Bryan Ireland plays the Lottery for the chance to become an instant millionaire.  Those chances have finally paid off.  Ireland became the newest Lottery millionaire when he purchased the new Smooth 7s instant ticket from the New York Lottery and hit the top prize of $1,000,000.
 
“I truly believe it was the luck of the Irish,” joked Ireland, a supervisor for Direct TV.  “I’ve bought a few of the Smooth 7s tickets and had some luck on them.  In fact, just last week I won $100 on one.  But this latest one had a few more zeros!”

Ireland purchased the top-prize winning Smooth 7s instant ticket on October 17th at the Stewarts Shops on Glen Street in Glens Falls. He claimed the ticket on October 19th at the Lottery’s Customer Service Center in Schenectady.

Ireland says his jackpot win will allow him a little bit more financial security.  “Winning this money is really a huge relief.  I have some bills and college loans that I can now pay off.”  Once the bills and loans are paid off, Ireland has a few plans for the rest of his winnings, but a very important one in particular.  “My family has always been good to me.  Now I can repay them with the family cruise we have always wanted to take.”

As the Lottery’s newest millionaire, Ireland has some advice to share with other Lottery players.  “Just like the commercials say, ‘Hey, you never know!’”
 
As with most Lottery instant games, the top prize on the Smooth 7s instant ticket is awarded in 20 annual payments. Ireland will receive his $1,000,000 prize in 20 annual installments of $50,000 each, netting him $33,015 per year through 2028.

The Lottery introduced the $5 Smooth 7s instant game in September 2009. Ireland is the first player statewide to claim one of the four $1,000,000 top prizes available on the ticket. Top prize winning tickets are disbursed randomly across all 16,000+ licensed Lottery retail locations statewide. The odds of winning the $1,000,000 top prize are approximately 1 in 2.5 million.

Ireland is the fourth Lottery millionaire from Saratoga County in 2009.  He is the 97th statewide this year and the 2,297th since the Lottery’s inception.

The New York Lottery continues to be North America’s largest and most profitable Lottery, earning more than $36.7 billion in education support statewide since its founding over 40 years ago.  The Lottery contributed nearly $2.54 billion in fiscal year 2008-09 to help support education in New York State, which was over 12 percent of total state education funding to local school districts.  The Lottery’s ongoing commitment to education also includes the awarding of more than 1,100 Leaders of Tomorrow (LOT) Scholarships annually to high school students pursuing their higher education in New York State.  Since 1999, the Lottery has awarded more than 11,500 scholarships representing a total commitment of almost $50 million.