Schenectady, NY – Margo Turner of Newark Valley, NY is Tioga County’s newest Lottery Millionaire. The 54-year-old Binghamton Housing Authority clerk is the third New York Lottery player from Tioga County - population 52,000 - to win a Lottery top prize valued at $1,000,000 or more since 1996.

The county’s newest Lottery Millionaire said she has been buying Lottery tickets for as long as she can remember.

“I always seem to win $25 here or $500 there,” she said adding, “I always hoped I would win big, but I never really thought it would happen to me.”

Turner purchased her winning $1,000,000 Mania instant ticket along with three other randomly selected Lottery scratch off tickets on Saturday, August 16, 2008 during a routine stop for gas at the Xtra Mart on North Main St. (Route 38) in Newark Valley.

“I sat in my car and just started scratching like usual,” said the mother of one. “When I finished scratching the third ticket – the $1,000,000 Mania – I knew this was different. I went right back in the store to make sure it was real.”

Turner claimed her winning ticket on Monday, August 18, 2008 at the Lottery’s Customer Service Center in Syracuse.

She will receive her $1,000,000 prize as $50,000 a year for the next 20 years. Her annual net check will total $34,075.

She said winning the Lottery “is a big relief.” She looks forward to sharing her prize with family, investing for retirement and “just living a much more relaxed and worry-free life.”

Other recent Tioga County Lottery Millionaires include Lotto jackpot winner Carla Baldwin of Richford who claimed her $5,000,000 Lotto jackpot in 1996 and the late Floyd Hooker of Owego who won a $45,000,000 Lotto jackpot in 1999.

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%. 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.