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by New York Lottery SCHENECTADY, NY (11/24/2009)(readMedia)-- Forty-five-year-old Sandra "Sandy" Olson of Falconer will remember 2009 as the year her Lottery Christmas wish came true. The 45-year-old mother of two won the $1,000,000 top prize on the Lottery's new Super 9s instant game. "I always believed that one day I would win a big Lottery prize," said Olson, a mother of two who works in the human resources department at RHI Monofrax in Falconer. "When I scratched the ticket and saw the word 'Jackpot,' I knew this would be a great holiday for my boys." Olson, who described her winning experience "like waking up on Christmas morning when you're eight years old," said the money won't drastically change her life, but she does have some plans for her windfall. "I have two teenage sons that will be going to college in a few years. The money will definitely help pay some of those bills and as well as some repairs to the house. But, she added, "I'll think about those things when we get back from vacation." Olson purchased her $1,000,000 Super 9s instant ticket on November 5th at the US News on East 2nd Street in Jamestown; the same store where she received her over-sized prize check from the Lottery's Gretchen Dizer. Olson claimed her winning ticket on November 6th at the Lottery's Customer Service Center in Buffalo. As with most Lottery instant games, the top prize on the Super 9s instant ticket is awarded as an annuity. Olson will receive her $1,000,000 prize in 20 annual payments of $50,000 each, netting her $33,015 a year through 2028. The Lottery introduced the $5 Super 9s instant game in September 2009. Olson is the second player statewide to claim one of the four $1,000,000 top prizes available on the ticket. Top-prize winning tickets are disbursed randomly across more than 16,000 licensed Lottery retail locations statewide. The odds of winning the top prize are approximately 1 in 2.5 million. Olson is the first Lottery millionaire from Chautauqua County in 2009. Other Western New York Lottery winners to win or share a Lottery prize valued at $1,000,000 or more so far this year include: sisters Lia Gentile and Franca Cavitt of Buffalo who split a $3,000,000 prize on the Money, Money, Money instant game in January; Lareecea Love of Buffalo who won $1,000,000 on the Triple Diamonds instant ticket in March; Betty Lou Ross of Niagara Falls who won $1,000,000 on the Price is Right instant ticket in April; and Melford Maynard of Buffalo who won $1,000,000 on the New York Millionaire ticket in June. The New York Lottery continues to be North America's largest and most profitable Lottery, earning more than $36.7 billion in education support statewide since its founding over 40 years ago. The Lottery contributed nearly $2.54 billion in fiscal year 2008-9 to help support education in New York State, which was over 12 percent of total state education funding to local school districts. The Lottery's ongoing commitment to education also includes the awarding of more than 1,100 Leaders of Tomorrow (LOT) Scholarships annually to high school students pursuing their higher education in New York State. Since 1999, the Lottery has awarded more than 11,500 scholarships representing a total commitment of almost $50 million.

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