(Buffalo Sisters Win $3,000,000 Lottery Instant Game Prize)

February 9, 2009-Schenectady, NY – Forty-four-year-old Lia Gentile, of Buffalo, stopped at her local B-Kwik Mart on Seneca Street to pick up a few items and decided at the last minute to add a Lottery ticket to her shopping list. She bought a Money, Money, Money instant ticket and won ten dollars. Feeling lucky she used the winnings to purchase a second Money, Money, Money ticket for another chance at the $3,000,000 top prize.

“I was pretty happy to win my $10 back on the first ticket. There are no words to describe what it feels like to win $3,000,000,” said Gentile, who stays at home to care for her elderly mother. “I’m sure glad I took a second chance!”

Gentile immediately took the winning ticket home and called her sister, Franca Cavitt, who now resides with her husband in Crescent, Pennsylvania. Gentile said she never thought twice about offering her sister half of her $3,000,000 prize.

“We might live 200 miles away from each other, but we manage to stay in contact,” said Gentile. “I wouldn’t dream of keeping all of this money for myself. Franca deserves to share in my good fortune.”

Franca, 43, made the 200 mile trip to Buffalo with her husband, Gerald, to claim the family’s new fortune. Franca and her husband accepted the family’s over-sized check at a ceremony held at the Boulevard Mall in Buffalo. When asked what she planned to do with the winnings Cavitt said it was still a little overwhelming.

“I’m still getting used to the fact that I am a millionaire,” said Cavitt, a Customer Service Rep at a Super Kmart Center in Pennsylvania. “I suppose a trip to Hawaii might be in order.” As for her sister’s plans for the money, Cavitt said she plans to pay off some bills and save for the future.

Gentile purchased their winning ticket on January 2, 2009 at the B-Kwik Market on Seneca Street in Buffalo. Gentile and Cavitt claimed their prize on January 16, 2009 at the Lottery’s Customer Service Center in Buffalo. The pair opted to split their winnings evenly with each receiving an annual payment of $75,000 before required tax withholdings for the next twenty years. Each will net $51,112 annually through 2029.

Cavitt and her sister are the first Erie County residents to claim a Lottery prize worth $1,000,000 or more in 2009. Other recent Erie County Lottery Winners include Hieu Tran of Buffalo who won $1,000,000 in December on the In The Money instant ticket and Richard Biu of Lancaster who also won $1,000,000 in December on the $500,000,000 Extravaganza ticket.

The New York Lottery contributed nearly $2.6 billion in fiscal year 2007-08 to help support education in New York State, over 13% of total state education funding to local school districts. 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.