MEGA MILLION-AIRE
Woodstock man bought lottery ticket at Stewart’s when he stopped to buy soda without ice for wife
Robert Burhans of Woodstock almost didn’t stop at the local Stewart’s Shop where he ultimately picked up his second-prize winning Mega Millions lottery ticket, but his wife insisted she wanted a soda without ice.
During a press conference in the Stewart’s at 268 Broadway on Thursday morning, Burhans shared the story of how he came to purchase the lottery ticket that won him $1 million in the July 10 drawing.
He said it had been a hot Sunday and he and his wife, Anne, were on their way home from spending the day on the Hudson River on their boat. Anne wanted a soda, but did not want to go through a local fast food restaurant’s drive-thru, Burhans said.
When the couple stopped at Stewart’s, Burhans said, he realized the Mega Millions jackpot was over $250 million, so he decided to get a ticket while get-
ting Anne’s soda.
“I normally do a $10 quick pick when it gets over $250 million,” Burhans, 62, said. He said he got his ticket and, when he got home, put it on his desk.
While the winning numbers were drawn Tuesday night, Burhans said he did not check his ticket until the following morning. He said he went into his home office, pulled up the lottery website on his computer, and started to check his numbers.
Burhans said he normally puts an underline under each number that matches those drawn for the game.
“Well this time the underline started at the first number, then the second number in the same game, third number in the same game,” Burhans said. “Now I’m thinking, ‘Jeez,
I’m at least going to get some money here to buy the next ticket’ ... Then I went and got the fourth number. And then I’m going, ‘Whoa. I’m getting real close here.’
“Then the fifth number. And I’m thinking, ‘Oh my god. If I get the Mega Ball, I’m going to win like $310 million dollars.’ And then I looked at the Mega Ball and I didn’t win. And for a minute I was disappointed, but then I realized I won a million bucks. What’s to be disappointed about?”
After the required withholdings, Burhans will receive a lump sum payment of $671,800.
The five main numbers drawn July 10 were 1, 17, 28, 56 and 70; the Mega Ball was 14. Burhans’ Mega Ball number was 7.
Burhans said he called Anne in to double-check his ticket, but she was in disbelief and thought they must be looking at the wrong numbers.
Anne Burhans said she refused to believe the couple had won until the clerk at the New York State Lottery claim center confirmed it for them later that Wednesday. She said she just cried when the win was confirmed.
Robert Burhans, who works part-time as a consultant and is president of the Board of Trustees for the Hudson River Maritime Museum, said he and Anne have had a blessed life and the win was another blessing. He said he would likely use the winnings to pay off the mortgage on his home and take a vacation, likely to an island somewhere.
“We had a life plan and I don’t think I’m going to change much,” he said.
Mega Millions players choose five different numbers from a field of 1 to 70, plus a Mega Ball number from 1 to 25 (or have a lottery Quick Pick computer do it for them). Each play costs $2. Drawings are on Tuesdays and Fridays.
The odds winning the jackpot in the multistate game are 302,575,350 to 1.