$1M instant lottery ticket winner sold in North Huntingdon

A frequent scratch-off lottery ticket buyer at a North Huntingdon pharmacy parlayed his hobby of purchasing a $20 Millionaire Maker chance into a $1 million winner.

“I was in disbelief when I scratched it off. I saw that (winning ticket) and thought ‘You’ve got to be kidding me,’ ” said Nicholas Pletcher, 44, of Mt. Pleasant Township.

He bought the ticket March 15 at AccuServe Pharmacy along Route 30.

Pletcher said he wanted to make certain that he really was holding a $1 million prize, so he checked the ticket on the store’s lottery scanner and found he was indeed a big winner.

“We were all shocked,” Tom McGill, a technician at Accu­Serv, said of his fellow co-workers at the pharmacy located in front of the North Huntingdon Square shopping center.

“(Pletcher) says that’s his hobby,” McGill said.

Pletcher said he buys a $20 ticket if he has “a little extra money” while getting his prescriptions filled. He opts to buy the more expensive tickets over the scratch-offs that cost $1 or $2.

He figures if he’s going spend money on a chance to win money, he’d “do it right,” he said.

A single father of two hockey-­playing boys ages 12 and 10, Pletcher said he has yet to decide what he will do with his newfound wealth, and plans to talk to a financial adviser. He is a machinist at a Mt. Pleasant manufacturer and does not plan on quitting his job.

But before Pletcher starts spending any of the money, the Pennsylvania Lottery will give the federal government 24% of his windfall and the state will claim 3.07%, leaving him with roughly $730,000. The pharmacy will receive a $5,000 bonus for selling the ticket, the lottery said.