November 19, 2009-The New York Lottery today teamed up with representatives from The Westchester mall to introduce Westchester County’s first-ever winner on the new Lotto spin-off game, Sweet Million. The Lottery’s Gretchen Dizer presented the lucky winner, Leonard Edwards of New Rochelle, with his $1,000,000 over-sized prize check before The Westchester’s Area Director of Mall Marketing, Paula Kelliher, provided the new millionaire with a list of Sweet holiday gifts ideas available at the upscale mall.

Edwards, a self-employed plumber and long-time Lottery player, said his Sweet Million win came as a sweet surprise. “I’ve been playing the Lottery for 30 years,” he said. “This was only the second time I ever bought a ticket for this game. I didn’t know it was a winner until I stopped by the store to check my numbers and saw all the signs about a $1,000,000 winner – I never thought it was me.”

Edwards purchased his $1,000,000 winning ticket the day of the October 12, 2009 Sweet Million drawing at the Lachmin Grocery on Mt. Vernon Ave. in Mt. Vernon. He revisited the store the next day to check his numbers and learned he was the mystery winner everyone was talking about. “It is the happiest thing in the world,” he said. “It’s a great, great feeling.”

Edwards will receive his $1,000,000 prize as a one-time net payment totaling $660,300. He planned to set aside a portion of his windfall to help fund his retirement. “I have no official plans beyond that,” he said. “I’m still working on what to do next.”

The Lottery debuted its Sweet Million game in September of 2009. The game has produced three jackpot winners to date, including Edwards. Drawings are held every Monday and Thursday at approximately 9:30 p.m. In a first for the New York Lottery, Sweet Million drawings are broadcast exclusively on the Internet at www.sweetmillion.com. Like all televised New York Lottery drawings, the Sweet Million drawing is conducted under the observation of an auditor from KPMG to ensure the randomness of the process.

To win the $1,000,000 top prize in the Sweet Million game, players must match six winning numbers drawn from a field of 40. In the event there are more than five top prize winners in a single game, the winners will receive an equal share of the total $5,000,000 top prize monies available for that drawing. Other prize levels for the game include: 2nd prize: match five of six numbers, win $500; 3rd prize: match four of the six numbers; win $40; and 4th prize: match three of six winning numbers, win $3.

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.