Massachusetts Man Won $1 Million Lottery After Blessed With Holy Water

It sounds like something straight out of a movie, but it happened in real life. A Massachusetts man won $1 million lottery after being blessed with Holy Water. According to the story on Mass Live, Edward Richards, from Haverhill, felt moved to buy lottery tickets after attending an Easter Saturday service, where he was blessed with holy water.

Edward purchased the lottery tickets at a place he didn't usually go, as he told the Massachusetts State Lottery. He bought his tickets at the Georgetown Richdale Convenience store on West Main St. The Haverhill resident decided to get the big one, the new $50 scratch ticket called "Billion Dollar Extravaganza." Mass State Lottery reported that Richards came to claim his $1 million prize on April 11 with his daughters, Keri and Dawn. He opted for the one-time cash payout of $640,00 (before taxes).

So, there it is... The story of a Massachusetts man who won $1 million lottery after blessed with holy water. So, what's Edward planning to do with the money? He told the lottery he wants to put a pool in his yard and do some other home improvements. Congrats to Mr. Richards!

Do you buy ottery tickets for Christmas, birthdays, when you visit the liquor store, get gas, and/or just for fun? You are not alone. And if you live in Massachusetts you've got plenty of company! LendingTree did a study in 2020 and recently revealed their findings. Their researchers looked at how much people are spending on lotteries by state. They also looked at whether the people who buy can afford it. In addition, LendingTree asked nearly 2,000 U.S. consumers about "their lottery attitudes and habits."

The results showed that Massachusetts residents spend more on the lottery than any other state. But we don't lose the most. Another New England State can claim that title. See the results, and more fun facts, below.

According to LendingTree's findings:
"Massachusetts residents spent the most per capita on lottery tickets and scratch-offs. Residents spent $805.30 per capita in 2020 — the latest available data — dwarfing fellow Northeastern states New York ($455.93) and Rhode Island ($429.88). Meanwhile, North Dakota residents spent only $32.24 per capita, below Wyoming ($40.97) and Montana ($58.62).

You have to spend more to make more, right? Apparently, that's what we are doing. LendingTree found that Mass residents got back 70 cents in lottery winnings for every buck spent in 2020. That is the 2nd highest in the country, after Missouri (71 cents) and ahead of three states at 69 cents. In South Dakota, payouts were only 19 cents per dollar spent, below West Virginia (22 cents) and Oregon (23 cents).

The LendingTree study found that: Rhode Island residents lost the most cash on lotteries. 

"Rhode Island residents had the worst deficit — the amount spent per capita minus prize payouts per capita — at $281.63 in 2020, followed by West Virginia ($249.81) and Massachusetts ($244.49). The states that spent the least overall had the smallest deficits: North Dakota ($15.69), Wyoming ($17.31) and Montana ($24.60)."

The research showed something a little more disturbing than just buying tickets and lottery winnings. Massachusetts residents spent the biggest share of their personal income on lotteries, according to the study. Apparently, we spent $10.26 for every $1,000 of personal income in the state in 2020. 

I love it when we beat New York. Here are LendingTree's top 15 states spending money on lottery

According to a LendingTree survey of more than 2,000 consumers, 60% of Americans play the lottery.

But who is playing what? Here's what the survey said:

Those who play are most likely to buy both scratch-offs and lottery tickets, but scratch-offs are the most popular choice.

"While men and women are nearly equally likely to play, men are more likely to aim for the big bucks: Nearly 73% of male lottery players buy tickets, compared with 58% of women.

By generation, just 56% of Gen Z players buy lottery tickets — the least of any age group. Meanwhile, baby boomers are the biggest billionaire-wannabes: 77% of baby boomer players buy lottery tickets, far outranking any other generation. Baby boomers are also the only generation of lottery players that almost equally prefers buying tickets (77%) or scratch-offs (79%)

Although scratch-offs are generally the more popular choice, consumers are pretty likely to play if the rewards outweigh the risk. Specifically, most consumers (41%) say the jackpot would need to be worth at least $100 million before they’d play. If they were to win, 58% of consumers say they’d take the lump-sum option over the annuity (annual) payments option."