Man’s $1 million promise to friend becomes reality after big Massachusetts lottery win

A man promised his friend “if I win $1 million, we are splitting it” before buying two lottery tickets and turning the vow into reality in Massachusetts.

His friend refused to charge him for his son’s guitar repair after learning the son had a recent health issue, according to an April 15 Massachusetts State Lottery news release. The friend wouldn’t “accept at least $40” as payment.

So Eric Cochrane, of Methuen, set out to buy two $20 instant lottery tickets at a convenience store and made the big promise to his friend John Galvin to split the potential winnings.

“An hour later, they were on their way to Lottery headquarters,” the news release said.

Cochrane won a $1 million prize from the state lottery’s “$10,000,000 Winter Riches” instant ticket game.

He chose to receive the prize in cash and got $650,000 before taxes, according to the state’s lottery.

The store Cochrane bought the tickets from, Howe Street Superette, will be paid $10,000 for selling the lottery prize.

Methuen is about 29 miles north of Boston.

This story was originally published April 21, 2022 at 8:52 AM with the headline "Man’s $1 million promise to friend becomes reality after big Massachusetts lottery win."

Julia Marnin

McClatchy DC

Julia Marnin covers courts for McClatchy News, writing about criminal and civil affairs, including cases involving policing, corrections, civil liberties, fraud, and abuses of power. As a reporter on McClatchy’s National Real-Time Team, she’s also covered the COVID-19 pandemic and a variety of other topics since joining in 2021, following a fellowship with Newsweek. Born in Biloxi, Mississippi, she was raised in South Jersey and is now based in New York State.