Former Suffolk police officer wins New York Lottery's $2,500 A Week For Life scratch-off game
Lottery winner Steven Sevier, center left, with is son Zac, wife Ellen and daughter Elissa out side the Montauk Highway Mart in Bay Shore Sept. 16, 2015. Sevier won $2,500 a week for life playing A Week For Life scratch-off. Credit: Newsday / J. Conrad Williams Jr.
For retired Suffolk County police Officer Steven Sevier, it's the "cherry on top of the whipped cream."
The Bay Shore resident received a ceremonial check Wednesday afternoon for winning the top prize in the New York Lottery's $2,500 A Week For Life scratch-off game.
Sevier said in a lottery news release that he buys tickets twice a week, but follows a morning ritual: "I read the paper, drink my coffee and scratch my tickets."
On this occasion when he saw he had a winner, it took a while for reality to set in.
"I didn't believe it," Sevier said. "I checked it three times and brought it outside to check in the light. I was flabbergasted."
Likewise, his wife, Ellen, who had called to remind him to water the plants, was in awe. "She didn't believe me, even when she saw the ticket. I still don't think she believes it," Sevier said of his wife of 43 years.
He's opted for a minimum of 20 annual payments of $130,000, netting him $86,034 per year after required withholdings and totaling $1,720,680, the lottery said.
Sevier said he had no immediate plans for the money.
"It is just a bonus in life," he said, "a cherry on top of the whipped cream."
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