GREENWICH, N.Y. — Bill Bracken grew up in Averill Park, spent much of his life on Mount Desert Island in Maine, and now lives in Vero Beach, Fla.
At least for now.
"Maybe I will move to Paris," the 74-year-old Bracken said during a New York Lottery press conference Tuesday morning at the local Cumberland Farms just before he received a giant ceremonial check for $3 million. "I have been many times, because I am an artist. I would like to go back."
He will have that opportunity — and also plans to pay off his mortgage and buy real estate — after collecting a payout of $1,667,736 because he took the lump-sum option and the state and federal government took their share of taxes.
Bracken's son Christopher, a Greenwich resident, actually bought the scratch-off "Three Million" ticket in October.
"I gave him $50 and told him to buy five $10 tickets," Bracken said. "He came back out and said, 'You won,' and showed me the ticket."
Bracken, who had been staying with his sister in Averill Park in Rensselaer County, returned to Florida, and when he returned for Thanksgiving, he and his son went to lottery headquarters to cash in the ticket.
When asked why he took so long, Bracken smiled and said, "I am 74. You take your time with these things."
The winning ticket is the first lottery jackpot winner in Washington County since Jeffrey Henderson of Hudson Falls won the "$1,000 a Week for Life" game in 1996.
Two years ago, Magen MacDavid of Queensbury won that same game on a ticket purchased at the Cumberland Farms store on Quaker Road in Queensbury.
Bracken, dressed casually in a dark shirt, black corduroys and horn-rimmed glasses, was relaxed and joking with the small crowd in the store. He received the oversized check from the lottery's John Schnur.
The money will be deposited into Bracken's bank account in a few days.
Bracken, who works in watercolors, had a studio and gallery on Mount Desert Island.
"I was there for 40 years," said Bracken, who is not married. "Being an artist, it was a great place to live."
Bracken said his son had mentioned he'd been having some luck with lottery tickets, so the pair went to the Cumberland Farms.
"He said he was feeling lucky, so I said, 'Let's go out and buy some tickets,' " Bracken said. When they arrived, he said, the elder Bracken waited outside, talking to a friend.
"He came out and said, 'You just won $3 million.' 'I said, 'Let's go back home,' " Bracken recalled.
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Congratulation Mr,Bill Bracken Spend Wisely
Europe in general is not cheap-l sure hope William has counted the cost before moving abroad.
Nevertheless.. . .Congratulations Mr Bracken. Its a great way to start the year off.
Congrats!! Spend it wisley Paris is pretty expensive ;-)
Good for him, but he should consider Italy instead. Even though taxes may be higher in Italy "payola" is easier, thus "saving" you money.
Wow what a story. "I am 74. You take your time with these things." He sounds like a sweet, humbled man. I hope he does move to Paris, and enjoys it.
Exactly where I'd like to move
isn'T his SON thats the right reciepient of the jackpot SINce he was at The right place at the right time ??the money from his dad justbfacilitated the transaction.since hes old he may have walked to store slower then his son and then from a physical ,mathematical perspective b late and not b at the righ time in the store.his son was exactly at the precise time to colect the tiket and should give back the 50$ and demand his jackpot..
Good job Mr Bill Bracken for not flinching while dropping the $50 on the 5 tickets and also for trusting his son's instincts and also for taking his time and planning this money out before claiming.
Wow he beat me to it! My fave story so far. An artist CAN win!!! I can taste those crepes with orange marmalade now.
Here we go another old person winning LOL. I dont know about living in Paris I heard it's kinda expensive. If I won 3 mil I think I'd stay where Im at probaby change neighborhoods though
If I win the lottery, I'd think about moving to Paris, too.
Paris sounds delicious to me too. Might be expensive but when you're 74 yrs old, what the heck?
Paris...Tennis anyone?
Great story! Congrats to the winner.
He currently lives in Vero Beach, FL. That ain't so bad either. Beautiful sand, water, palm trees, golf, tennis...
Really???
I sold yellow pages ads there about 10 years ago. I would drive up and stay the week in a motel, come home on Friday, go back on Monday. After 3 months of doing that and I was pretty tired of Paris.
I think I might move to the hill country.
My future apartment in Paris.
http://www.primelocation.com/overseas/details/27191296?image=1
lol
i would agree with your theory here if the son had purchased a powerball or megamillions ticket on a day when people would be lined up to buy them. but, a scratch ticket was probably sitting there unbought for a longer period of time just waiting for someone to step up and purchase it. suprised the masses on here haven't jumped on you yet for suggesting the son deceive the father. even despicable as i am wouldn't resort to that. after all it was the fathers money that purchased it. selecting a winning scratch ticket depends on one being in the right store (at somewhat the right time, wiggle room here) and selecting the right ticket. anyone purchasing a "quick pick" mega or powerball ticket is about 95% relying on the "clerks" finger movement on the machine. a microsecond of hesitation makes all the difference. it is the sole reason i fill out cards to take that element out of it. if you fill out cards it doesn't matter where or when you buy it. you yourself have total control of your fate on that. anyone who wins on a quick pic should tip the clerk 50 fold compared to one who simply plugs your filled out card in the machine.
Hey Artist, I thought about you when I read the story. Paris seems to be the ultimate goal for many artist such as yourself.
The apartment you referenced in the link looks appealing but at close to $6 million would take a slightly larger windfall than what this winner from NY won.
Here's to you on those crepes and marmalade dreams.
Well, I was just kidding, but if I could find a nice live-water property w/ trees and a good-sized pond/small lake on it, I would. I've looked at (fantasized about) properties in central and north Texas and depending upon how much I won, I'd love to buy one of them. There are a couple around Quitman, Texas I'd love to have, but my dream property is south of Mt. Vernon..."only" 8 million! <grin> I love Texas, my kinfolk mostly all live here, but I can guarantee you I wouldn't move north of these city limits no matter what.
You had to drive up to Paris? What, you didn't let your fingers do the walking? <wink>
Beautiful study/library. I have a friend here in town who has a library in an extra bedroom; when the power goes out, he and his wife go in there to sleep- with books on all four walls, it's the best insulated room in the house!
I like mine with Nutella! At the crepe stand across from Notre Dame my favorite crepes in Paris! Wish I was there right now!
Not sure if it would effect the guy in the OP or who it effects but the other night Yahoo Finance had an artcile about France considering a 90% tax rate.
Congratulations, Bill Bracken, on your over $1M after income taxes lottery scratch jackpot win! You would probably have more fun continuing living near your son and doing more fun stuff here in the good 'ole U.S. of A. than living in a foreign country -- where it is taxing to develop close relationships and understand what people are saying, most of the time. Perhaps it would be entertaining enough (and WAY cheaper) to you to merely vacation for a few weeks in a different country each year or so. Bill, you have a great, loving son!
LOL. I thought you were! I was just thinking there probably aren't too many folks that ever heard of Paris Tx. In fact, I believe there was a movie made in or about Paris Tx. I never watched it though. Have you?
Yum, That looks good.
Y'know, I thought I'd seen that flick, but after looking at the IMDb listing for it, don't remember it if I had. I met a British woman online and she came over to see me several times and one cold weekend we stayed home and watched movies about Texas/filmed in Texas (Hud, Giant, Last Picture Show, Waltz Across Texas, etc.) and I thought we had watched it then, but.... I got one of those Texas-themed emails the other day - you know the ones, all brag and a little shy on facts - and this one listed towns/cities in Texas with names of food, animals, etc. and one list was foreign city names of Texas ones, including Paris. (there's a London Bridge here in town, all of about 20' long)
I don't have any desire to visit, much less live in France, all respect to Artist. I understand why she would, more power to her, hope she gets her dream someday, but the only place I want to see in France is Normandy, the invasion beaches and cemeteries. Paris? Nah, I've worked on enough drilling rigs, don't care to see that big ol' derrick in the middle of that town. <grin>
Someone from NYL is getting fired. Their not suppose to let the northerners win. The NYC players are gonna be in a uproar when they hear about this.
indeed a nice place and thanks for another great real estate link
as for me I'd like to find a decent fixer-upper like this
Thanks for the info on this gorgeous home in Marseille. This is when you hit the really big jackpot, since it's listed for over 4 million in Euros. Never saw such an outstanding home. The French high society have good taste, if you like the Louis the 14th style of living.
Mr Bracken might be able to rent an apartment in Paris for awhile, with his million dollar jackpot, or live comfortably in the USA free of a mortgage, if he knows how to shop for an affordable home.
I'd settle for an American farm house with fire places,and lots of acreage for horses. But that's just me.
Good job Bracken fellows!! Congrats to both of you. Moving to Paris is a brilliant move on his part simply because that's what HE WANTS TO DO!!! And that's all that matters, especially at his age. As far as cost is concerned, not an issue. He can simply pay off his mortgage here and rent it out for additional income if he wants while away. No need for him to purchase anything in Paris, simply rent a small/medium size flat for anywhere between 1500-3000 euros a month and enjoy the city....then take trains to South of France etc. If approach smartly, the interest he'll be able to receive from the remainder of his lump sum would easily cover living expenses in France. Perfect set up for the old man. Way to go buddy. Good for you!!!
I love the apartment Artist. I like the "traditional" styling. Nice.
LOL
I am 'older' and will buy a house in Vero should I win my Jackpot!
I agree with you Poly. I'd like to live in the sunshine and warmth of Florida. I'll save Paris for romance and tennis.
lol I know. That is the one I will buy if I win a super big JP and net close to $ 200 million. Even then something like http://www.apartmentsforsaleparis.com/two-bedroom/merlot.php would be easier to rent out when I am away but I would still have to net about $20 million before I bought that one.
Why is he contemplating Paris? Does Paris have a good lottery?
He should contemplate Italy.
All the best food is made and grown in Italy.
Fuggedhaboiout.
This Australian guy asked me if i had a Crepe so he could work under his car. After five minutes i figured out he wanted a Creeper.
Are you sure he wanted a creeper?
Maybe he asked you if you had a Crepe, because he really wanted to know where the latrine was?
I imagine he does not want to relocate to such a corrupt place, especially Naples. The garbage situation there is unbearable. i had to walk in the streets at some places because there were mounds of garbage blocking the sidewalks.
I have eaten Italian food in Italy and I was not impressed. I find Japanese sushi, and Jamaican, Ugandan, Malaysian, Middle Eastern, Nigerian, French, and Indian dishes of all sorts to be much more delicious than any of the pizza and pasta dishes I ate while on several different work trips to Italy's Amalfi Coast.
if I were him, I would merely visit France because Hollande is trying to pull an Obama. "An Obama" is synonymous with lack of leadership, lawlessness, cronyism, mismanagement, lack of accountability, and outright lying for political purposes.
LOL!
74 and still has a mortgage guess that is why he is playing the lottery
Illinois politics at its best{worst}, for the last hundred years. Currently, there is a short, extremely rotund, loud-mouthed pin-head, in NJ, that takes it up a notch, to a completely new level. Paris is a beautiful place, and even more so, a beautiful state of mind, if you have the MONEY, and know where to look. "Merely visiting" Paris because of bad feelings towards Hollande, is akin to merely visiting the Good ol' USA because there is a lot of HORSE $HIT in Illinois.
Starving artist no more. When he dies, his $25 paintings will most likely be fetching upwards of $100,000.00 or more depending on how well he is marketed.
Yes.
$$$ not gonna do him much good when he's
god what a douche.
Sounds like a great job, what do you do?
"Bracken said his son had mentioned he'd been having some luck with lottery tickets, so the pair went to the Cumberland Farms.
"He said he was feeling lucky, so I said, 'Let's go out and buy some tickets,' " Bracken said."
-So I advice everyone out there if you are feeling lucky go to the nearest lottery station. Because winning is sometimes in our instinct however we most of the time disregard it. What a great story considering that Mr. Bracken seems to be a kind, humble and friendly man well congratulations to you Mr. Bracken you deserve to win.
Food taster aka food critic or freeloader....!!!.
I looked at his website and his work is above average and he went the right route (not a pretend artist--did/does the competitive juried shows and is in collections...although he should have a one page resume of highlights). So I doubt he was a starving even before his win. Death does not make your work worth more in 99.99999 % of cases. You can spend a fortune on marketing and if your work simply is not good or does not have that mass and critical appeal, death will not change its value. If his name was a household name at this point, then, yes, his death would cause an increase in his work value but he is not in that category.
And from looking at his paintings, they are probably easily already in the $1000 plus category. I don't know of any artist that sells $25 paintings.
Good gracious. Your metamorphosis in the past few months, has been nothing short of mind-blowing. You always come across as trying too hard, and in the process appear to be completely discombobulated by the slightest of issues, that don't fit squarely in your current view of things, thereby leaving you wide open to anybody interested in taking a swipe at you. In the interest of decorum, I'll let discretion be the better part of valor for now. Art{especially paintings} in and of itself, is one of those very few commodities, that the value is solely determined by what the purchaser is willing to pay for it. The famed Mona Lisa might be worth millions of dollars to an art gallery snob, while it serves as a litterbox for some other run of the mill joe blow who has no clue what he is looking at. A host of dead artists of the pre/post renaissance era, easily outsell their living counterparts. Show us one living artist that has sold a painting that is in the highest price range of the dead artists.
Are you for real??? Let me guess... another one who resents a female expressing an educated opinion. I guess I should post silly pics and say "I agree" all day long. You were the one coming across as a "know it all" and I presented a real world view. I see why most of the LP members dislike you. You were the one saying how his work would be worth $100,000 when he died. lol That is a myth. You sound like one of those wannabe artists who post horrendous paintings online for $5000 and expects to world to wonder at their "perfection" and then are stumped why everyone laughs at them. There is a competitive jurying process for artists and few "outsider" artists rise to the top. And as someone who has juried quite a few events myself, I think I can speak to the topic.
There are quite a few living artists who works command very high prices. Look up Damien Hirst, Cindy Sherman, Jeff Koons, etc. You seem to be out of the loop. Pop into any real commercial gallery and ask to see an artist's resume.
SORE LOSER!!! You come to LP to seek approval and have people on the internet like you? Your life must be really a lot worse than we thought. It must really be the $hits. Where do you get off on always telling people who don't agree with you on anything, that they resent a "female" blah, blah blah. YOU ARE NOT A FEMALE, MAYBE A FEMALE WANNA BE. You come to this site, and always try to denegrade other people. You try to espouse your fake air or your version of superiority. In fact, you try so hard to mask your low self esteem and inferiority complex, that every time we see one of your posts, we usually say, "MS. FAYE KING IS ON". WE CALL YOU MS. FAYE KING, BECAUSE WE HAVE NEVER SEEN ANYBODY THAT FAKES IT AS MUCH AS YOU DO. What a loser. If you really want to know what people on this site think about you, go and read Veganlife125 posts about you. Have a good night Ms. Faye King and keep faking it till you make. Right now, you are doing a lousy job of it FAKER.
F.Y.I. Those people that post silly pictures and say I agree at least are being real. I know a fake who claims to be more intelligent than those people, but keeps posting..lol lol lol. I'll take real over fake anyday, regardless of how silly real is. It may already be too late for you to change or learn!!!.
I know what you mean. My Grandfathers Barbed wire collection is now worth $9, scrap weight.
https://www.lotterypost.com/thread/269342/3379022
Ms. Faye King....the fake artist who is always faking it. The link above should remind you how beloved you are on LP, since you come here to seek approval. Self deception is the worst kind of delusionary behavior. This is just one link but there are several of them. Hopefully you will wake up from your air of fake superiority and start treating other members with some level of respect. You have burned so many bridges. Good luck to you.....YOU DEFINITELY NEED IT!!!.
It is interesting that those bullies I and others stood up to (Ronnie, B2b) are no longer LP members and I received thank you PMs for my efforts to end their bullying. I will continue to stand up to anyone who I see bullying LP members.
PS: Get a job.
I'll give ya 3 bucks for it.
Cash money.
or U could donate it to the barbwire museum
I don't live too far from there, but I've never been in that museum. My ex's cousin in Kansas was a barb wire collector and after we were married, we moved into a house and found some correspondence between her cousin and the previous tenant about their collections.
McLean is on old Route 66 and I mentioned that to some Aussies in a chat room who were talking w/ me about wanting to to cruise along the parts of the road that still existed. I told them a part of the old road was about 20 miles away and was crumbling and they begged me to send them chunks of the pavement. (they expected me to pay f/ the postage and were angry when I told them to send the money for that first)
The man who donated the land for the townsite (McLean) was on the Titanic and local legend has it his body was found on an ice floe, but that story is in doubt.
Congratulation Mr. Bracken.....