Lottery winners collect their millions

PHOTOGRAPHER: Stacey Lauren-Kennedy

The New York Lottery’s Yolanda Vega presented ceremonial prize checks to the three winners who bought their $1 million tickets at three different Stewart’s Shops. From left are Diane Staples from Mechanicville, Ansel Lyman of Galway, Vega, and

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Three lottery winners were awarded oversized checks at a Saratoga Springs Stewart’s Shop on Tuesday afternoon.

The lucky recipients were Douglas Adams of Westchester County, Diane Staples of Mechanicville and Ansel Lyman of Galway. Adams and Staples played Powerball and Lyman won on a scratch-off ticket.

Lyman, 82, was on his way to see a friend on Sept. 14 when he stopped at a Stewart’s on Route 67 in Amsterdam. He bought a cup of coffee and four “20x the Bucks” scratch-off tickets. The first ticket he scratched was for $1 million, which he will receive in 20 annual payments of $33,090 after taxes.

The retired carpenter said he will donate some funds to charity and joked about upgrading his fast-food selections.

Staples, who bought her ticket Sept. 22 when she was buying milk, normally just bets her favorite numbers, like birthdays. In this case, though, she also bought a Quick Pick, which ended up being the second-place winner for Powerball. The prize is $1 million in a lump sum payment.

The 45-year-old didn’t even know she had won until her boyfriend alerted her to the fact that there was a local winner.

“I couldn’t believe my eyes,” Staples said in a statement, recalling checking the winning numbers on the New York Lottery website. The co-workers she showed the ticket to began to scream and yell.

When she tried to tell her boyfriend about the good news, he didn’t believe her, and ultimately it took a photograph of the ticket to convince him.

With taxes deducted, she will receive a check worth $661,800, which will be used to pay off all of her bills and for a vacation, she noted.

Adams purchased his ticket Sept. 29, when he was working at his honey bee farm in Cobleskill. The ticket was for Powerball, a game he usually doesn’t play but switched to because the jackpot was higher than Mega Millions. He also won the second-prize lump-sum payment of $1 million, which will be $661,800 after required taxes.

The New York Lottery contributes about $2.9 billion toward education expenses in the state. This amount represents almost 15 percent of the state education aid received by local districts.