Sylvia and James Silverence with the Lottery’s Yolanda Vega (right)
TOWN OF POUGHKEEPSIE — James and Sylvia Silverence are the winners of the largest-ever scratch-off prize in the history of the New York State Lottery. They spent $30 apiece for each of six tickets.
James Silverence is a regular Lotto customer and had gone into the Stewart’s Shop on Vassar Road in Poughkeepsie to cash in winning tickets worth $125.
New York Lottery’s Yolanda Vega presented the ceremonial check at the Stewarts Shop on Route 9 Thursday afternoon to present the check to the couple and introduce the state’s newest multi-millionaires.
“I fell on the floor, I was laughing,” said James. “I couldn’t get off the floor. I was in shock.” Their sons came running downstairs thinking their dad was injured, but they were informed the family had just won $10 million.
The parents of four boys do not plan to make major changes except for the paying off college for their sons, a new truck for James who works in the elevator industry, and a few new diamonds for Sylvia. The Silvernences opted to split the jackpot with each receiving a net check totaling $3,309,000 after the required holdings.
The new millionaire described the purchase by saying “the lady ahead of me had purchased four of the $10 million cash tickets and didn’t win. There were six tickets left so I put in some extra money and got them all,” referring to the last six tickets in the store.
Silverence took the tickets home to his wife Sylvia and let her scratch them off. After scratching the tickets, she realized she may have just won $10 million. She covered up the word “jackpot” on the ticket and then showed it to her husband. James described the life-changing time by saying “when Sylvia showed me the matching numbers and moved her finger to reveal the word “jackpot” we both just started screaming.
