`Really good guy' wins $2 million; Man usually buys just 1 ticket.

Byline: George Barnes 

FITCHBURG - When employees and customers at Gomes Liquors learned that Gene A. Iannacone was the winner of a $2,147,401 million Megabucks prize, they were thrilled.

"He's a really good guy," said Marty Morock, an employee of the liquor store who was working the counter yesterday afternoon. "Everybody likes him."

Mr. Morock said Mr. Iannacone comes in to the store most days.

"He buys a couple of Quick Pics, a couple of scratch tickets and a paper," he said.

The Massachusetts Lottery Commission announced yesterday that Mr. Iannacone was the winner of the Aug. 16 Megabucks lottery, hitting all six of the numbers he selected. He received his first of 20 annual checks yesterday at the Massachusetts State Lottery headquarters in Braintree.

The winning numbers, 9-23-29-30-33-41, were a Quick Pic. A Quick Pic is made by a Lottery player when the numbers for a Megabucks or other game are randomly generated by a Lottery computer. The store will receive a commission of $15,000 on the sale of the winning ticket.

Mark DeBettencourt, another employee, was talking about Mr. Iannacone's lucky draw outside the Ashby State Road store. He said Mr. Iannacone usually buys one ticket per lottery game and a couple of $1 instant scratch tickets for his wife.

Mr. Iannacone could not be reached last night for comment, but Dana Descarreaux, a customer at the store, said he stops in each night while out for a walk with his wife.

"They're out getting their exercise," he said.

The Iannacones live just around the corner at 550 Rindge Road.

"They usually walk around the block," he said.

Mr. DeBettencourt said he was happy to hear it was one of the store's regular customers.

"It's not someone from New Hampshire or someone who buys a lot of tickets," he said. "You hear that all the time, but Gene often just buys one ticket."

Mr. DeBettencourt said when there is a large jackpot, such as the prize for the multistate Mega Millions game for last night, which was projected to have a top prize of $114 million, lottery sales increase. He said people from out of state, and people who rarely take a chance, stop in to the store to buy lottery tickets. He said Mr. Iannacone does not overspend on the lottery, but is a regular customer who just happened to get lucky.

In the Megabucks game, players select six numbers from a field of 42 and win by matching at least three of the numbers. Megabucks drawings are held every Wednesday and Saturday at 11:20 p.m. and are aired on WCVB-TV, Channel 5.

The before-tax payout for Mr. Iannacone will be $107,370 annually for 20 years. Mr. DeBettencourt said that after taxes, the winner would receive about $70,000 per year. The odds of winning Megabucks are 1 in 5,245,786.

In an interview last week, Jacob Gomes, owner of the liquor store, said Lottery sales make up about 10 percent to 15 percent of his business. The store has had big winners before, including $1 million from an instant ticket and a $100,000 prize.

ART: PHOTO

CUTLINE: Mr. Iannacone