The Patriots winning the Super Bowl, getting a hole in one and winning the lottery are three things Paul Bashaw, a 65-year-old man from West Boylston, said he never thought he’d see in his life.
But over the past 20 years, the Pats have won the Super Bowl six times, Bashaw got a hole in one five years ago and now, thanks to a scratch ticket he bought in July, Bashaw can call himself a lottery winner.
The Massachusetts State Lottery confirmed the ticket was a $1 million winner after he claimed the prize on July 28.
Bashaw went to a convenience store in West Boylston called J&J Variety and bought a $20 scratch ticket from the game “$5,000,000 100X Cashword” on Thursday, July 20, then realized he’d won the $1 million prize, the lottery said.
After 20 years on the job, the truck driver had gone into work three days earlier, on Monday, July 17, and told his employer he would finally retire at the end of the week.
He finished out the two weeks before his retirement without telling anybody at work about the $1 million prize, the lottery said, then came forward to claim his winning ticket on July 28.
“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, and now I’ve hit all three,” Bashaw told the lottery.
The “happily retired” truck driver will now travel with his winnings, he told the lottery, as he chose the cash option on his prize and received a one-time payment of $650,000 before taxes.
J&J Variety, located at 360 West Boylston St. in West Boylston, will receive a $10,000 bonus for selling the winning ticket, the lottery said.
