October 30, 2009 Teacher wins Patriot tickets for life

BOSTON (AP) - A Malden school teacher and lifelong New England Patriots fan is the first Massachusetts Lottery player to win a pair of season tickets for life in the football team's new instant game.

Robin Colarusso of Everett won the prize after initially failing to win instant prizes that include $1 million payments, 4,250 VIP ticket packages and team merchandise.

Instead, she became one of 300,000 people to send in two losing tickets for a "second-chance" drawing.

Colarusso says she's never been to a game before "and now I can go to every single one."

The $5 game was announced in August and has already sold more than $40 million in tickets.

In May, NFL owners approved a rule allowing teams to partner with local lotteries.

(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)