Most people say once they win the lottery, they will quit their job, but only Rae Ann Wentworth-Cadieux, 52, can say she lost her job and then won $1 million from the Powerball Jackpot.
The Massachusetts woman was just let go from the IT department at New Hampshire College, but now she says she and her husband are looking to buy a lake house — all thanks to her husband’s lucky numbers he has been playing since the 1990s, the Daily Hampshire Gazette reported.
“This gift of this win could not have come at a better time for me and my husband,” Wentworth-Cadieux wrote in an email to the Daily Hampshire Gazette. “It will give us some needed breathing room until we consider retirement, which is expected to be a little more comfortable and a little early now.”
Rae Ann Wentworth-Cadieux and her husband, Keith Cadieux (Rae Ann Wentworth-Cadieux/Facebook)
She purchased the ticket at the Pride Station & Store in Hadley, and after taxes, she and her husband will take home $710,000.
“We both plan to continue working for a few more years, but our plan of getting a lake house near retirement has been accelerated,” she said. “We will be looking to purchase a year-round camp/cottage/cabin in New England within a year now instead of the original three to five years down the road.”
The two said they look forward to spending more time with their five grandchildren.
“My husband and I are super excited, grateful, and still in a bit of shock,” Wentworth-Cadieux said. “I have never won more than $500 on an occasional scratch ticket.”
Wentworth-Cadieux bought one of three Powerball tickets in Massachusetts that were valued at $1 million during the July 19 drawing. There were $1 million tickets sold across 18 states, NBC Chicago reported. However, there was only one ticket sold that matched all five numbers and the Powerball. The winning Powerball ticket — worth $1.08 billion, the third largest in the game’s history — was sold in downtown Los Angeles at Las Palmitas Mini Market, Breitbart News reported.