FOXBOROUGH, Nov. 22, 2009 - At halftime of Sunday's Patriots-Jets game at Gillette Stadium, June Chapman, a grandmother from Easton, Mass., won $300,000 in the Million Dollar Drive, a second-chance drawing in the New England Patriots instant ticket game from the Massachusetts State Lottery.
Chapman, a lifelong Patriots fan, walked onto the field to pick from 24 hidden prizes on six-foot by nine-foot instant tickets. She selected ticket no. 22 and opened an envelope to reveal her $300,000 prize.
She was overjoyed.
"I've got to come down from everything first," she said. "I have no idea what I'm going to do. I know we're going to go to Florida."
Chapman, who was selected to participate in the Million Dollar Drive from more than 330,000 Internet entries in a Nov. 3 second-chance drawing, chose no. 22 because it was her granddaughter Jessica's father's birthday. Jessica had given the two Patriots instant tickets to Chapman and her husband Russell in August. When they didn't initially win on the tickets, Jessica told her grandparents about the second chance opportunities for Lottery players with two non-winning Patriots tickets.
The New England Patriots instant ticket, the first NFL-licensed product to be developed with a state Lottery, was unveiled by state Treasurer Timothy P. Cahill and Robert Kraft, Chairman and CEO of The Kraft Group, at the start of the 2009 season. The $5 instant ticket has quickly become one of the best-selling Lottery products of all time with current sales approaching $50 million in just three months.
The instant game, which boasts 10 instant prizes of $1 million, features more than 6.7 million winning tickets. Lottery players will also win 4,250 VIP game ticket packages and unique Patriots merchandise. The marquee prizes in the game are second chance drawings for five pairs of New England Patriots Season Tickets for Life.
About the Massachusetts State LotteryThe Massachusetts State Lottery is dedicated to providing revenue for the Commonwealth's 351 cities and towns. Since 2003, the Lottery has returned more than $6.3 billion to taxpayers. The Lottery, through our 7,500 agents, offers players exciting and entertaining games, a formula that has made us among the most successful lotteries in the nation. For more information, please visit www.masslottery.com.
About the New England Patriots
The Patriots were named the eighth and final charter franchise of the American Football League (AFL) on Nov. 16, 1959 and are celebrating their 50th anniversary season this year. In 1994, Robert Kraft purchased the franchise and vowed to bring New England its first league championship. The Patriots delivered on that promise at the end of the 2001 season and became just the second team in NFL history to win three Super Bowls in a four-year span after winning back-to-back titles in 2003 and 2004. Since 1994, the Patriots have won more games (179) and more often (.656 winning percentage) than any other NFL team. For more information, please visit www.patriots.com.
