Published: May 13, 2009 01:01 am      

BIG WINNER: Falls’ Betty Lou Ross cashes in on $1M lotto prize

It wasn’t exactly the “dollar and a dream” scenario, but Niagara Falls resident Betty Lou Ross has become the New York State Lottery’s newest millionaire.

Ross won a $1 million jackpot prize off a $5 “The Price is Right” instant game ticket, which she bought on a whim April 30 from the Wilson Farms store at Plaza and Sawyer drives. On Tuesday, Ross returned to the store for a ceremony with state lotto officials and to receive the first installment of what will be annual payments for the next 20 years.

“Oh my God, $1 million,” she said while holding a giant novelty check. “I really didn’t believe it was true. Now I believe it.”

Ross, who lives in LaSalle, said she went to the convenience store that night just to buy tickets for the Mega Millions drawing. However, a streak of good luck on a “The Price is Right” slot machine at Seneca Niagara Casino the night before — she won $1,000 — prompted her to buy two of the new instant tickets. She scratched them off in her car and couldn’t believe the results.

“The first didn’t make me any richer, the second made me a millionaire,” she said, adding she buys instant tickets at least once a week.

Unsure if she actually won the jackpot prize, Ross went back into the store and had it confirmed through a lottery machine.

“I said ‘I have to go home because my knees are weak,’ ” she joked at Tuesday’s ceremony. “They still are.”

Greg Clark, the assistant manager at the store who sold her the ticket, said he was happy someone local became a lotto millionaire.

“It was nice to see someone from our area actually win something, too,” he said. “Her words were ‘pick me a winner, and I did.’ ”

After going back to her car and sitting there in shock for another 20 minutes, Ross excitedly drove home and called up her daughter Tammy to begin spreading the good news among the close-knit family. A couple of days later, she went to the state lottery’s Buffalo Customer Service Center to claim her ticket.

The paperwork was finalized Tuesday prior to a brief ceremony attended by about a dozen friends and members of her family. According to Lottery communications official Carolyn Hapeman, Ross is the first grand prize winner on the “Price is Right” ticket, which is the state’s newest instant game. Costing $5, the game offers three chances to win prizes between $5 and $1 million and the odds of winning the top prize are 1 in 3.1 million.

“The odds sound astronomical, they are astronomical, and yet somebody wins,” said Hapeman, adding there’s still an estimated three more grand prize “Price is Right” instant tickets available somewhere in the state.

In accordance to the state lotto rules, the $1 million prize will be paid over 20 years. Ross, 70, will receive annual payments of $50,000, which will result in $33,015 after taxes each year until 2029.

The retired hairdresser, who also placed second in the 1958 Maid of the Mist Beauty Contest and earned the title of Miss Congeniality, said she plans on setting up trust funds for her two grandchildren, buying a more comfortable bed, vacationing in Las Vegas and using her winnings to make a difference.

“I’m going to help people who need it,” she said, adding she considers herself lucky in gambling and in life. “I have a wonderful family. We’re very close.”

Her grandchildren, Chelsea Pelsone, 16, and Marco Santiago, 20, described Ross as a very giving and caring person who is always there for family and friends.

“I’m very excited she won, she’s worked hard all of her life,” Pelsone said.

Ross is the second Niagara County resident to win $1 million on an instant ticket in the past two years. An Appleton man claimed a jackpot prize on July 3, 2007, Hapeman said. The Wilson Farms at Plaza and Sawyer drives also sold a $100,000 instant ticket winner a couple of years ago, store officials said.

Contact reporter Rick Forgione at 282-2311, ext. 2257.