Here is the live news clip: http://www.wagmtv.com/news/newscast.php
PRESQUE ISLE, Maine - When Raylene Shaw answered her home telephone late Wednesday evening and heard an employee from her store, Ray’s Corner Variety, say someone had won an estimated $9.875 million in the Maine State Lottery from a Megabucks ticket purchased at the business, she admitted to being a bit skeptical.
"I totally did not believe it," Shaw said Thursday. "I thought it was a computer error or some type of malfunction with the lottery machine."
She was wrong, but the error is one that she is ecstatic about having made.
Raylene and her husband, Barry Shaw, own the convenience store that sold the winning ticket in Wednesday night’s Tri-State Megabucks drawing.
A $10,000 winning ticket also was sold at the Big Apple in Auburn.
Wednesday’s winning numbers were 7-10-12-16-19-21 and the Bonus number was 17. The winning ticket matched all six numbers for the jackpot win. It is the largest Tri-State Megabucks jackpot since 1993.
Ray’s Corner Variety opened at 70 Academy St. a little more than two years ago, and the Shaws are first-time business owners. The store sells both online and Instant Maine Lottery tickets.
The Shaws will receive a selling bonus based on the final jackpot total. Shaw said she learned from lottery officials Thursday the store’s bonus could be an estimated $30,000.
When the store opened at 5:30 a.m. Thursday, customers started streaming through the door, and they were still coming as of late afternoon.
"It has just been unbelievable here today," Raylene Shaw said, looking frazzled as customers filtered in and out of the store, purchasing snacks, asking employees whether a winner had come forward and speculating on what they would do with the cash if they had won it.
"The phone hasn’t stopped ringing. Many of our regular customers have come in to check and see if they had the winning ticket, and they’ve been congratulating us all day."
Shaw said several customers regularly purchase lottery tickets at the store, and employees at the business immediately began speculating Thursday morning that one of the "regulars" might have won.
"Most of our regulars have come in and checked their tickets, though," Shaw said Thursday afternoon. "So far, it hasn’t been one of them."
As for the money the store will receive, Shaw said she and her husband haven’t really thought yet about what they will do with it.
"It’s still sinking in," she admitted, "but we’ve owned this business for a couple of years and there are some things that we’d like to do to it."
News of the store’s good fortune also brought some new faces to the Academy Street site.
"I’ve seen people come in here today that I’ve never seen before," Shaw said. "I can’t wait to find out who the winner is. Whoever it is, we’re very happy for them."
1 comment:
Wow! That's really cool, congrats to your Mom!!! :)
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