(Dutchess County Hamlet is Home To Two Lottery Millionaires, At Least One Lucky Lottery Store)

Schenectady, NY – LaGrangeville, NY, already home to a pair of lucky Lottery Millionaires, is now home to one of Dutchess County’s luckiest Lottery retailers – Citgo’s On the Go store located at the corner of Routes 55 and 82. Sixty-five year-old William Rao of Hopewell Junction was the lucky Lottery player who stopped in for a cup of coffee and left with a $500,000,000 Extravaganza scratch-off ticket worth $1,000,000.

“It was a spur of the moment thing. I scratched the ticket and got excited because I thought I had a $1,000 winner,” said Rao, a scale master for the Royal Carting Company, a residential refuse company based in Hopewell Junction. “I looked a little longer,” he said, “And I saw the extra zeros.”

Rao purchased his winning ticket on May 15, 2008 and claimed it at the Lottery’s Fishkill Customer Service Center on May 21, 2008, using the time in between to consult with his attorney.

“I want to retire, but I’ll settle for a little time off right now,” said Rao, a long-time Lottery player. “It’s been a long time coming, but well worth the wait.”

The father of three said he planned to spend more time with family and “give a little something back to the community.”

Rao will receive his prize in 20 annual payments of $50,000, less required tax withholdings. His annual net check will total $34,075.

LaGrangeville, a hamlet of the Town of LaGrange (population 16,000), is home to two recent Lottery Millionaires including Gertrude Scaccia who split an $18,000,000 Lotto jackpot with her sister, Nancy, of Hopewell Junction, in 2001. More recently, Anna Marie and Steven Cuomo won the $1,000,000 top prize on the Lottery’s Liberty’s Millions scratch-off game. The couple received their prize in February of this year.

The New York Lottery contributed nearly $2.6 billion to help support education in New York State on revenues of $7.549 billion in fiscal year 2007-08 - - a profit margin of 34.3%. Last year, the Lottery’s earnings accounted for over 13% of total state education funding. 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.