Just because Stacy Varellas of North Adams won $100,000 last week, that doesn't mean she'll be leaving the Pizza House business she co-owns with her husband, Jim.
In fact, they won't be changing much at all.
"It's not a small amount, but it's not such a big amount," she said Wednesday while working at the Adams Pizza House. "It's not a million, but it's definitely nice."
While Varellas sounds calm now, she was ecstatic to hear on the radio last Wednesday morning that she had the winning numbers of last Tuesday's Mass Cash lottery. The winning numbers were 11-13-16-22-32, and Varellas had done the Quick Pick at The Convenient Store on Summer Street in Adams.
"When I found out, I was screaming and so happy," she said.
The Convenient Store received 1 percent of the total winnings, or $1,000 in this case.
Varellas said she plays the lottery once a week, visiting a couple different area convenient stores. While she has won smaller amounts in the 10s or 20s, this is her largest winnings.
The odds of winning this game, one in 324,632, are the best of all the state lotteries, according to Lisa McDonald of the Massachusetts Lottery Commission.
This past Tuesday, Varellas traveled to one of the lottery headquarters in Braintree to claim her winnings, as anyone has to do when winning over $600. According to her, they have only one option of receiving the money in one lump sum. After filling out the necessary paperwork and taking out money for taxes, she said she will receive $60,000- $70,000.
When asked what she will do with her winnings, Varellas said they have not figured that part out yet. They are not big on taking vacations, she said, and she does not expect to make any large purchases such as a new car or amenities for the home.
"And we're doing okay with our business," she said, referring to the Pizza Houses in Adams and North Adams.
Varellas has a son and a daughter, ages 24 and 25, so there are no school expenses to worry about, she said, and both are out of the house with their own jobs.
"We'll have to talk about what to do with it," she said. "It is exciting, but nothing to change over."
100,000 will help alot. I wis
Good thing she didn't hit the Mass 6/42 or 6/49.