A trucker who has been in the industry for over 20 years is hanging up his hat with a nice little nest egg after a recent stroke of good luck.
Paul Bashaw, 65, informed his boss that it was time for him to retire on July 17 and that he would be leaving in two weeks. Three days after that, he went into a J&J Variety convenience store in West Boylston, Mass., and bought a scratch-off lottery ticket.
Against tough odds — specifically a one-in-1.008-million chance — Bashaw came away with a US$1 million ($1.3 million) winning ticket.
He couldn’t believe his luck.
“I told my wife there were three things in life I never thought I’d see happen: the Patriots winning the Super Bowl, getting a hole in one – that happened five years ago – and hitting the Lottery, and now I’ve hit all three,” Bashaw told the Massachusetts Lottery.
The trucker quietly finished the last week-and-a-half he had left at work, without telling anyone that he had won the lottery.
On his last Friday on the job, July 28, Bashaw cashed in his winning ticket. He claimed his prize in the form of a one-time cash payment of US$650,000 ($870,000).
Bashaw’s golden ticket was part of the Massachusetts State Lottery’s $5,000,000 100X Cashword instant ticket game.
The “happily retired” trucker said he plans to use his winnings — and the extra time he has on his hands — to travel the world.
Bashaw isn’t the only winner here, either. The J&J Variety convenience store where he purchased the ticket will also receive a US$10,000 ($13,000) bonus as well.
West Boylston is in central Massachusetts, about 80 kilometres outside Boston.
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