Two lucky winners were each able to enjoy the $1 million prize awarded through the Patriots instant game, a new game from the Massachusetts State Lottery. Both prizes were distributed within the first week of the release of the Patriots ticket.
Scott A. Hoyt, an Air Force Reserve Master Sergeant, chose to receive a lump sum payment of $650,000 on Thursday rather than 20 annuity checks of $50,000. Hoyt, who repairs jet engines at Westover Air Force base in Chicopee as a civilian and a reservist, has served for nearly 29 years in the U.S. military.
“This has been incredible,” Hoyt said at Lottery headquarters in Braintree. “I bought the Patriots ticket as soon as it came out. I actually won $1 million and $35. Three other tickets were winners too.”
Derrick Gorman, a factory plant manager who was due to be laid off, also took the lump sum payment. Gorman, of Plymouth, Mass., had the choice between moving his family to Illinois or going on unemployment in three weeks before purchasing the grand prize winner.
“I really didn’t want to relocate the family to Illinois. My wallet told me to go, but my gut told me to stay,” Gorman said. “I just got off the phone with my boss and told him that we wouldn’t be going. We own our house and I’ve lived here all my life. This is a huge relief for my family.”
Gorman isn’t a regular Lottery player, but purchased his ticket because he’s a Patriots fan.
“I enjoy the Patriots and I saw the ticket and it was something new,” he said. “I grew up when the Patriots weren’t even on TV. I’d hear my father swearing because the games would be blacked out.”
Hoyt and Gorman will be at the Patriots-Bengals preseason game on Thursday night at Gillette Stadium, where they will be recognized on the field as the first New England Patriots instant game winners.
