Rodney Harrigan is the latest fortunate person to have won $10 million by participating in one of the Massachusetts State Lottery’s instant games.
The lucky winner had purchased the $10,000,000 Spectacular instant ticket that made him a holder of millions of dollars overnight.
Harrigan belongs to Worcester and only recently did the State lottery announce its winners from March which happened to include this lucky winner too.
The ticket was bought by Harrigan from the Popcorn Market that is situated in Worcester at 179 Belmont St.
The lucky store also made some cash out of this win of $10 million. It shall be getting a commission of $50,000 for selling the fortunate ticket.
Harrigan had the choice between taking the cash option or taking the annuity payouts, he chose the former. With the cash option, he was bestowed with a lump sum amount of $6,500,000 according to the lottery officials. This amount of course doesn’t include the taxes yet and shall reduce a bit after tax deductions.
One of the most taxing decisions that lottery winners have to make is whether to choose the cash option or annuity. Players tend to believe something happens to the rest of the money if one chooses the cash option rather than annuitized payments over time. But this is not the case, in fact, if the cash option is chosen the rest of the money does not exist.
For example, when a player wins a Powerball jackpot, they have an option of taking their winnings in one lump-sum payment or in annuities. When the player chooses the annuity option the lottery uses money gathered from the sale of tickets for the jackpot drawing to invest further. The initial money made from sales of tickets in the game is given to the players over time. The money that is invested earns interest over time so the initial cash plus all that interest adds up to the annuitized jackpot amount.
When player chooses the lump sum option then they’ll receive the amount of money that’s on hand from the sale of tickets in-game. There is no interest money because the winner has chosen to get a cash payment on the spot.
Harrigan is not sure about what he is going to do with this win or where he is going to spend his newly acquired windfall.
However, he might get some ideas from other winners who revealed their plans. For instance, a man from Southwick who won $10,000 per month for a decade said he would buy a house from the money. His first collective annual payment amounts to $120,000 before taxes.
Another winner, Martin Mackenzie who is from Waltham said that with his $1 million he hopes to buy a condo on a beach. While another winner of $1 million, Deborah Craig from Framingham is keen on investing the win for her retirement plan.