$25 million Massachusetts Lottery winner returns to lucky store; “She won again”

By NEAL RILEY

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    BOSTON, Massachusetts (WBZ) — The winner of a $25 million scratch ticket prize in the Massachusetts Lottery isn’t done trying her luck. “Billion Dollar Extravaganza” jackpot player Desiree Fortini-Craft returned last week to the West Roxbury store where she bought her winning ticket, and added more to her total.

Fortini-Craft took a selfie with the store owner and bought a few more of the $50 scratch tickets – the priciest ever sold by the state. This time, she scratched a $500 winner.

“She’s very happy, she’s excited. She bought a couple tickets, she won again,” Baker Street Market co-owner Kathy Dakoyannis told WBZ-TV’s Kristina Rex. “She’s a lucky lady.”

What’s her secret to lottery success? Dakoyannis says Fortini-Craft is a “pretty regular” customer who buys scratch tickets in pairs.

“She believes in two together,” Dakoyannis said.

For her grand prize, Fortini-Craft chose to take the one-time payment of $16,250,000 before taxes. She told the Lottery that she and her fiance “want to enjoy life” and “they plan on having a really good Christmas in Aruba.” She also will be using her winnings to pay off student loans for her three children and buy a new car.

Fortini-Craft’s luck goes way back. She also won a $1 million prize on a Massachusetts scratch ticket in 2006.

All three $25 million prizes in the Billion Dollar Extravaganza game have now been scratched. The other two winners were sold in Fall River and Somerville and claimed by legal trusts. There are still seven $1 million winners and four $2 million prizes remaining.

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