Millionaire Beautician

Amsterdam resident receives $3M Royal Riches lottery prize


SCHENECTADY — Rosemary Pratt of Amsterdam is Royally Rich after winning the $3 million top prize in the New York Lottery’s Royal Riches instant game.

Pratt, 61, works as a beautician for the Fantastic Sam’s hair salon on Route 30 in Amsterdam.

“It’s been the talk of the salon and the whole town for weeks, but it’s never been official … until now,” Pratt said in a news release.

Lottery representative Yolanda Vega on Monday handed a ceremonial check to Pratt and her husband, Leon, a retired GE factory worker, during a ceremony at the lottery’s central offices in Schenectady.

Pratt said winning that kind of money takes some getting used to.

“It’s overwhelming, simply overwhelming. There’s no other way to describe it,” said the mother of three and grandmother of seven.

Pratt purchased her Royal Riches ticket May 2 at the Mini Kwik Mart on Route 30 in Amsterdam.

She and her husband claimed it about an hour later at the lottery’s customer service center in Schenectady.

“I couldn’t wait another minute,” she said in the news release. “I just didn’t know what else to do.”

Pratt said she and her husband might use some of the money to trade in their older model cars for a couple of new ones.

“Beyond that, we really don’t have any plans for the money outside of taking care of family,” Pratt said in the news release.

Pratt will receive her prize in payments of $150,000 a year, less required tax withholdings, for 20 years. Her annual net check will total $102,225.

Pratt is the third Montgomery County lottery player to win a lottery prize valued at $1 million or more, the new release said.

Other county lottery millionaires include Karen Savoie of Fultonville, who won a $4 million Lotto jackpot in 1995, and David Smitherman of Hagaman, who won $1 million on the lottery’s New York Poker instant game in 2006, the news release said.