Schenectady, NY – Fifty-eight-year-old Gary Owens of Ravena is rich, spectacularly rich after winning the $10,000,000 top prize on the Lottery’s Win for Life Spectacular scratch-off game, which guarantees a minimum prize payout of $10,000,000.

“Winning $10,000,000 was a little shocking at first,” said Owens who wears a pacemaker to regulate his heart. “I don’t think it has really sunk in yet.”

The retired GE Engineer collected his record prize this morning from Lottery Icon Yolanda Vega at the J & B Deli and Pizza on Route 9W in Ravena where he bought his lucky ticket earlier this month…by accident.

“I went in to buy my usual ticket – the $500,000,000 Extravaganza – but they didn’t have any so I settled on the Spectacular ticket instead,” said Owens. “I guess it worked out in the end.”

Owens is the first Albany County Lottery player to claim a prize of $1,000,000 or more so far this year. His $10,000,000 prize is the richest cash prize ever awarded to an Albany County scratch-off winner. His good fortune follows on the heels of Jacklyn Lyte of Latham who claimed her $18,000,000 Lotto jackpot prize in December of 2007.

Owens purchased his ticket on April 18 and claimed it the same day at the Lottery’s Schenectady Customer Service Center. The self-described “average, funny guy” said he had a hard time convincing himself he was a winner so he waited a little while before telling others.

“I just kept asking myself if this was real or if I was imagining it,” he said. “Once I realized it wasn’t a joke, I started having fun and started calling friends.”

Owens plans to use a portion of his prize to help friends and family. He also plans to look into buying property “someplace where it’s warm all year.”

Owens will receive his $10,000-a-Week-for-Life prize in quarterly payments of $130,000 each, less required tax withholdings or $88,595 net.

The New York Lottery contributed nearly $2.6 billion to help support education in New York State on incoming revenues of $7.549 billion in fiscal year 2007-08 - - a profit margin of 34.3%. The New York Lottery continues to be North America’s largest and most profitable Lottery, earning over $34.2 billion in education support statewide since its founding over 40 years ago.