West Boylston man's nice retirement gift: a $1 million scratch ticket winner
A West Boylston man won $1 million off a scratch ticket he bought three days after giving his two-week retirement notice, according to the Massachusetts State Lottery.
Paul Bashaw, 65, formerly a truck driver, had a lucky strike off a $20 scratch ticket he bought last month at J&J Variety, a West Boylston convenience store near where Interstate 190 South merges with Route 12.
The Lottery said Bashaw finished his last two weeks without telling anyone at work about the lucky hit.
He waited until Friday, his last day of work, to cash his ticket at the Massachusetts Lottery headquarters in Dorchester, where all state Lottery prizes above $103,000 are claimed.
Bashaw, who chose the cash one-time payment of $650,000 before taxes, said that he would use some of his winnings for travel.
J& J Variety also got a $10,000 bonus for the sale of the ticket, which was for the $5,000,000 100X Cashword ticket with a $5 million top prize.
“I told my wife there were three things in life I never thought I’d see happen: The Patriots winning the Super Bowl, getting a hole in one — that happened five years ago — and hitting the Lottery,” said Bashaw, according to the Lottery. “Now I’ve hit all three."
This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Truck driver wins $1 million just after giving his retirement notice
