Mystery lottery winner is talk of town in Clayton

CLAYTON, New York (WWNY) - There’s no official announcement yet as to who won $1 million with a lottery ticket bought in Clayton last month. Meanwhile, people in the river community are wondering who’s the winner.

It’s a usual Friday in Clayton, with residents and tourists alike lining the street. But there’s a catch. One of them may hold a winning lottery ticket.

“It could be on top of someone’s refrigerator, on their table, with some stickies on it, some pens,” speculated Janine Conn.

The mystery started at Sliders Food Mart where the New York Powerball ticket valued at $1 million was sold. Although numbers were announced late last month and officials know the ticket came from Sliders, a winner has yet to be officially revealed.

At least one person thinks that may be intentional.

“They’re getting all their ducks in the row, getting lawyers involved, getting all of that, and learning to cope with it,” said Tatiana Black.

We asked folks what they’d do if they were the lucky winners. Answers varied.

“I would get one of these extremely large island properties with a very nice and quaint front porch and a place for my two boats,” said Arthur Quinn.

Boats aside, his wife has some stipulations for the island home - namely space for their 17 family members to vacation.

“We do that anyway but right now we’re in four cottages and we like to have one big house. It would be so wonderful to own one,” said Cathy Quinn.

Others like David Coull have purely altruistic plans if they win.

“Our needs are met. We’re both retired and I’d like to help someone who really needs help,” he said.

New York Powerball tickets expire 1 year after they’re initially drawn, so the winner has until next July to claim the prize.

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