Jefferson County woman wins $1M lottery jackpot

WATERTOWN, N.Y. (WWNY) - A town of Ellisburg woman has gone from living on Social Security to hitting the jackpot. A scratch ticket and some luck have made Jeanette Beamer a millionaire.

Jeanette Beamer is a regular at Fargo’s Family Market. But the 75 year old’s trip to the town of Henderson store a few weeks ago was anything but normal.

“I came in to get chicken wings and I saw those green tickets sitting in front of me and I said give me four of them. I scratched the first one and won $30 and I scratched the second one and had the jackpot,” she said.

That jackpot was $1 million. She paid $5 for the ticket.

“I was flabbergasted. It’s unreal. Everybody dreams about winning a million, but you just never know you would, you know,” said Beamer.

The Fargos say word of Jeanette’s winning ticket didn’t take long to spread.

“We took her to Syracuse and by time we got back that evening, the rest of the roll was gone,” said Lucille Fargo, owner, Fargo’s Family Market.

Beamer says hitting the jackpot is a big win; money has been tight since her husband died.

“It’s like a weight off my shoulders,” she said.

She has already bought a truck and is looking at convertibles. Beamer hopes to donate money to charity, too.

In the meantime, she says she’ll keep on buying scratch tickets.

“Never know, if you don’t play, you can’t win,” she said.

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