VINALHAVEN — Late last week, a Vinalhaven electrician scratched off the matching numbers to an instant game ticket purchased at the Fisherman’s Friend store on the island. He walked out of the store, and soon learned that this quarter’s winning pot of $1 million belonged to him.

“He is an awesome guy, very deserving,” said Linda Hufsey, co-owner of the store, on Monday afternoon, several days after the ticket had been sold. “It couldn't happen to two nicer people.”

It turns out her daughter, Angela Miller, had sold the winning ticket to Desmond, but was sworn to secrecy in divulging the identity of the winner.

Hufsey owns the store, along with Cheryl Day, and the Fisherman’s Friend is one of the top-selling stores for lottery tickets, and winners. It was Knox County’s number one selling lottery ticket store last year, Hufsey said.

“I was really rooting that the winner was him,” she said.

The Maine Lottery Commission will give the store $10,000 for its role in selling the winning ticket.

According to Michael Boardman, marketing director for the state-run lottery commission, this particular game pays out $1 million four times a year. The game just started in December, and the first winner was a Saco resident.

The ticket is a scratch card, with 10 winning numbers listed on the top. If your numbers match one of the listed numbers, you are a winner, like Desmond, and you “find out right then and there,” said Boardman.

Desmond does not walk away with $1 million; the state withholds 30 percent of the money for taxes. 

The $40,000,000 Fortune instant game offers the highest payout in Maine Lottery’s history, with over $40 million in cash prizes, including a top prize of $2 million, four prizes of $1,000,000 and $11.5 million in prizes from $50 to $500, according to the commission.

“I’m so excited to hear that we had a big winner and it’s especially nice to hear that it’s one of our regular customers,” said Miller. “He’s such a nice man and I’m so happy for him.”