News writer
Having beaten the odds not once but twice, Hyde Park, Massachusetts resident Desiree Fortini-Craft is one of those statistically rare people who know what it's like to win ‘big money’ at the lottery on more than one occasion.
Though differing in terms of the specific games and prize size amounts she has won—one million dollars in 2006 and then, most recently in December 2023, one of three $25 million grand prizes—the common thread is that Craft purchased both winning lottery tickets from the same neighborhood spot—the Baker Street Market on West Roxbury.
“She's very happy, she's excited. She bought a couple of tickets, and she won again," Baker Street Market co-owner Kathy Dakoyannis told WBZ-TV's Kristina Rex. "She's a lucky lady."
The third and final winner has been named
The public announcement issued on December 1, 2023, named Fortini-Craft as the third and final $25 million grand prize winner of Massachusetts Lottery’s $50 scratch-off ticket, ‘Billion Dollar Extravaganza.’ This was the largest dollar prize amount the MA Lottery had ever given away on a scratch-off ticket.
After the ‘Big Win’
Fortini-Craft shared with local Massachusetts media that following her win, she stowed her ticket away for safe-keeping, jumped on a plane with her fiancée, Jason Perkins, and beelined for a tropical getaway in sunny Aruba.
Only upon her return did she come forward to stake her claim. Reportedly, after weighing her options, she chose to take the lump sum option— a one-time, pre-tax payment of $16,250,000—rather than breaking it up over time in annuitized payments.
Cashing in: full disclosure
Only 11 out of 45 states in the U.S. allow winners to retain their anonymity upon putting in their claim. The State of Massachusetts is not one of them.
This means the Bay State enforces a full disclosure policy whereby upon putting in a claim, in order to collect, the player needs to understand that their identity will become part of the public domain.*
*Note: Should a player enlist the aide of a ‘good’ attorney, one knowledgeable in the area of estate planning, they may be able to create a trust whereby they will be able to shield their identity and keep it private.
Yet, with respect to the ‘Billion Dollar Extravaganza,’ Fortini-Craft was the only one of the three big $25 million jackpot winners who chose to reveal her name and likeness. The other two jackpot winners worked with attorneys to file under the aforementioned ‘trust’ structural formation in order to retain their privacy.
While a decidedly more complicated and costly option, the peace of mind the formation of a trust provides is often the rationale winning players cite for their willingness to pay the added expense.
Apparently, this is the route the other two top $25 million grand winners of the ‘Billion Dollar Extravaganza’ scratch-off ticket chose, as both claims were processed via the establishment of a trust.
Proud to be a winner
Yet, having her name made public doesn't seem to bother Fortini-Craft, for according to press reports, she seems undaunted by the attention brought about by her win.
In fact, to the contrary, she appears only too happy to openly share the joy and freedom her good fortune has brought into her and her family's lives.
When asked by local media about her upcoming plans, Fortini-Craft enthusiastically shared, “We want to enjoy life and plan on spending Christmas in Aruba.” They recently purchased their tickets for a second return trip.
Additional purchases Fortini-Craft anticipates making include paying off her daughter's student loans, purchasing a new vehicle, and purchasing additional sizable items for the family.
With regard to Fortini-Craft's lottery ticket buying habits, Baker Street Market owners Louie and Kathy Dakoyannis relayed, “She comes in regularly and always buys tickets in two's.”
Happy to support Fortini-Craft's continued winning, the store owners that sold the winning ticket, the Dakoyannis, will receive $50,000.
Odds on favorite?
With over $1.2 billion in total prizes and an overall prize payout of 82 percent, MA Lottery's ‘Billion Dollar Extravaganza’ was billed as offering the largest amount of total prize money with the highest payout percentage possible of winning.
The odds of winning any prize in the game were listed at 1 in 4.10, while the odds of winning the top $25 million prize were one in 10 million.
The MA Lottery promotes the $50 scratch-off ticket as having over $1.2 billion in total prizes and an overall prize payout of 82 percent.
At the time of writing this article, six of the game's fifteen $1 million grand prizes and four of the game's five $2 million grand prizes had yet to be claimed.
The winning combo
With Fortini-Craft and the Baker Street Market’s storied history, some may refer to them as a winning combination.
Add-on: Because it would seem most improbable, if not downright unbelievable, we opted to share this additional update as a separate aside.
Following Fortini-Craft's big $25 million dollar win on Massachusetts Lottery's ‘Billion Dollar Extravaganza’—their first-ever $50 scratch-off ticket—she actually returned to the Baker Street Market one week later, bought another ticket and won a $500 prize.
In speaking with local MA station WBZ-TV, co-owner Kathy Dakoyannis said:
She's very happy, she's excited. She bought a couple of tickets; she won again….She's a lucky lady.
Fortini-Craft is definitely one lucky lottery lady, that’s for sure. At least, she is in the State of Massachusetts. What we are now left wondering is whether she plans to try her lottery luck while in Aruba.
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