(New Rochelle Couple Wins $1,000,000 Lottery Prize, Announce First Child Due in October)

Schenectady, NY – Hope Shanahan today received a surprise baby shower from the New York Lottery when the expecting mom was presented with an over-sized check for $1,000,000 for winning the top prize on the Lottery’s Big Bucks instant game. Hope and her husband of two years, William, who are expecting their bundle of joy in October, received their bundle of cash at Five Islands Park in the couple’s hometown of New Rochelle.

“The timing is perfect,” she said. “This is truly a dream come true for us.”

Shanahan, 34, said news of the couple’s “double blessing” was making the rounds at Sherwood’s Restaurant and Bar-B-Q in Larchmont where she’s worked as a waitress for the past 13 years.

William Shanahan purchased the pair’s winning ticket on April 15, 2008 at a newsstand owned by the Jonu Corporation located at 288 North Avenue in New Rochelle. The pair claimed the ticket on April 21, 2008 at the Lottery’s customer service center in Garden City.

The couple plans to stay in Westchester County where both will continue working; she at the neighborhood eatery and he as an accountant at the family-owned Joseph Shanahan & Co., a CPA firm in New Rochelle.

“Westchester is our home,” she said. “I don’t see us leaving, maybe moving to a bigger co-op, but not leaving the immediate area.”

The couple plans to use a portion of the $1,000,000 prize to pay off debt and start a college savings plan for the baby. “Nothing too exciting,” she said. “We like to play it safe.”

The Shanahan’s win marks the second time this year the Lottery has awarded a top prize of $1,000,000 or more to a Lottery player from Westchester County. The County’s first Lottery Millionaire of the year, Karen Kyle of White Plains, received her $1,000,000 prize check from the Deal or No Deal instant game in February.

The Shanahans will receive their prize paid out as $50,000 a year for 20 years, less required tax withholdings. Their annual net check will total $34,075.

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.