City councilor wins $2.5 million in Lottery

Friday, December 22, 2006 posted 01:57 AM EST

NEW BEDFORD, Mass. --A New Bedford city councilor has won $2.5 million on a state Lottery scratch ticket that he bought at local supermarket.

Paul Koczera, a Ward 2 councilor, turned in the winning $10 scratch ticket to Massachusetts State Lottery headquarters in Braintree on Thursday. He walked away with a check for $87,500 -- the first of 20 annual payments.

"You go on with business as usual. I'm not going to change my lifestyle or anything," Koczera told the Standard Times of New Bedford.

After taxes, he will take home $1.75 million. He didn't trust himself to drive after scratching the $800 Million Spectacular ticket, matching two sevens.

"My temperature got very high. I felt like my head was going to explode," he told the newspaper.

His friend, former city councilor Naomi R.A. Carney, drove him to Braintree. He spent the ride staring in disbelief at the ticket.

Koczera, who is 45 and single, told the newspaper that he'll stay on the council and won't quit his job as legislative director with the Bristol County sheriff's office.

"It's not going to change me as a person. Life goes on, and so forth," he said. "I'm not going hog-wild or anything."

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