Massachusetts man wins $2.64 million State Lottery prize thanks to wife; here is how he plans to spend it

A Massachusetts man is the winner of a $2.64 million jackpot prize that was at stake in the Massachusetts State Lottery’s Megabucks drawing that took place Saturday, August 24.

Kevin Connor from the village of Rochdale in the town of Leicester, who claimed his prize at Massachusetts State Lottery headquarters in Dorchester, received a one-time payment of $1,868,298 (before taxes).

Connor said he has been playing the same Megabucks numbers for over thirty years. He plays a combination that consists of his wife’s old landline number from when they first started dating, as well as his wife’s favorite number.

He purchased his winning ticket after playing a round of golf at Hillcrest Country Club. The club, located at 325 Pleasant Street in Leicester, receives a $26,400 bonus for its sale of this ticket.

Connor said he was in Maine with his family for the weekend when he found out he had the winning numbers.

“I woke up Sunday morning, picked up my phone, went right to the app, and beelined it to my Jeep to get my ticket and make sure I had the right numbers,” said Connor.

He said he plans on using some of his winnings to pay for his children’s college tuition and buy himself some new socks.

This is the fourth Megabucks jackpot won since the game was redesigned on November 12, 2023 to bring more value to players, with better odds of winning, a higher average jackpot, and double the winnings for all non-jackpot prize tiers. Monday drawings were added to the traditional lineup of Wednesday and Saturday drawings.

By reducing the numbers to choose from in the game from 49 to 44, the odds of winning the jackpot and all other prize tiers improved. The odds of winning the jackpot went from 1 in 13,983,826 to 1 in 7,059,052.