Timothy Schultz:

Tom:

I'm doing great, Tim. Thanks for having me.

Timothy Schultz:

Thank you so much for being here. You have such an inspirational, very intriguing story for so many reasons. Walk me through what happened. How much did you win and what happened?

Tom:

I won $1.97 million through the Mass State Lottery. It was through an application called Lotto.com. It was the first time that I ever played the lottery. It was the first time that I had played the lottery, but it took two weeks. We'll talk about that whole thing. It was a huge surprise to me that I would win. I didn't believe it.

Timothy Schultz:

$1.97 million. Good lord! How did that feel?

Tom:

There was a lot of emotion there. I think I had a hard time believing that I won on the app. I had to leave the app and check the numbers online and say, "Maybe the app is fooling me to get some sort of information out of me. This can't be true. Are those really the numbers that won? Is that really the amount that was won?" I didn't believe. We're all pretty skeptical of things that we get online. There's a lot of scams and things like that. When I finally realized it was real, it was, "Wow, I'm going to be able to get a house" or "I'm going to be able to move forward with my life" and all of the crazy things that I was dealing with at the time.

Timothy Schultz:

Let's back up just a little bit before the win. There's some really peculiar or interesting things that happened even leading up to the win. What was going on in your life and what was your mindset? How did you buy the tickets? What happened before the win?

Tom:

I was a big cryptocurrency person. I helped with a bunch of websites, a bunch of different YouTubers and things like that, giving them information about cryptocurrency, and built some channels up. I was in contact with a lot of different people in cryptocurrency with MIT, with Harvard, people that were building these apps and things like that. I was really moving my own portfolio, taking things that interested me, things that I thought were going to be big. New technology was a interest of mine. I took some classes online during COVID and really tried to get the knowledge of the whole space. It was looking really good. I'm a musician. With music, you do a tour and there's a bunch of money and you come back and you pay a bunch of bills, and then you don't do much for a while. You're scrounging for gigs. When COVID hit, things really started to go down. Things that were booked were on hold. Regular gigs that I had were gone altogether. It wasn't good. We weren't getting any sort of help or support from the state. Musicians were like, "Oh well, let's push that aside. It's not that important." It was tough in our city here in Boston. The crypto thing seemed like this is maybe going to be a way for me to get ahead, to get a house. I was always living in condos or apartments. I found out my wife and I were expecting twins way after COVID, moving forward a little bit. Right before this news, all of that crypto money that I had built up, I moved it into something else because I was waiting, just the stories you hear about. I was waiting and waiting for it to explode, so I moved it into something else for about two weeks. When I did that, all of the holdings that I had went up 600% but I had moved them into something else. That was hundreds of thousands of dollars that was unrealized, to put it nicely. That money was gone.

Tom:

What I had put it into did nothing. I couldn't move it back. It was a big mess. Everything that I thought I was going to have was gone, and then shortly after that found out we were having twins. We were in a small apartment. I didn't know what I was going to do. I didn't know what we were going to do. It was turning into a beautiful time and then a dark time. It was tricky.

Timothy Schultz:

You lost hundreds of thousands of dollars in crypto essentially is what you're saying, because you invested in one thing and the investment that it had been in went up by 600%.

Tom:

Exactly. I had held it for about eight years. It was a nightmare.

Timothy Schultz:

I can imagine, but how did that feel at the time? Were you just devastated?

Tom:

I put every ounce of my being into that thing. I was up at all hours researching, doing everything for years. I would come home from gigs that I had and I would be up way too late researching things, answering emails, whatever. All of that time and energy, it's going to eventually come to fruition. For me to move all of that money out before realizing those gains, it was a nightmare. It started to really push me into a dark place, I would say.

Timothy Schultz:

Did you have hope? Did you feel that there was any sort of answer? Did you feel like there was a path to take? What led you to playing the lottery?

Tom:

That's a great question. At the time, I didn't see any path. I was racking my brain and just thinking of what can I do. We have to get out of this place. We need space. It would have been really tricky having three kids where we were living. I know how I got as far as to the Lotto app. That was a mistake. Essentially, I was messing around on YouTube or watching some videos online. It was one of those things. You move your mouse and you click on something by mistake. I was on my phone. I was talking to a buddy of mine through text and going back and forth to videos on YouTube or something. I just happened to hit an ad for an app. It was Lotto.com. I'd never even heard of it. I don't even know where I pressed on it, to be honest with you. It's never happened to me before. It just pulled it up and I was like, "This is annoying." I couldn't find the X. You get that thing and you go "Where is the X?" The brightness was down on my phone and I was like "I don't know how to click out of this." Then I was like "Oh, this is cool, Lotto.com." You get this stuff in your head, like "Maybe somebody made me click on this" or whatever. Maybe that is the case. I just installed it, and when I did, it said "Not available in Massachusetts." Then there was an update button. I'm frustrated at this point, like "I've got to get out of this thing." I updated it and it said "Now available in Massachusetts," which I found very strange. In my head, I'm in that place like "Maybe somebody wants me to use this app or something." I have that going on in my head. I installed it and I used it. That probably leads you to your next question, so I won't go any further than that.

Timothy Schultz:

Oh my gosh. It said it wasn't available in your state, and then all of a sudden it was. That is strange. What were you feeling? What happened next?

Tom:

After I downloaded it, I said "I want to make sure this isn't some sort of a scam." If I'm going to use some sort of Lotto app or link my Venmo or whatever they're asking, I want to make sure it's legitimate. I did a quick AI search or something just to see, is this legitimate? Is it sanctioned? Is it a legit app, the lottery recognizes it? It seemed fine. Everything seemed to check out.

Timothy Schultz:

It seemed like it was credible enough, but what actually happened with playing? Then you took the next step. From what you were saying, because we spoke on the phone for a few minutes, things got strange right around then. Walk me through what happened.

Tom:

The very first game that I played, again, this is another thing that made me go "This can't be real." The very first game that I played, I won $250. You're not winning the big one. It's like two down. I think I got four numbers on Megabucks or whatever it is to get to. It was enough to make me go, "I couldn't have won that with $5 or $6 the first time playing." I've never played before, never played Megabucks, never played Powerball, never played anything.

Timothy Schultz:

You'd never played the lottery before?

Tom:

I had never up to that point. That's why people will ask me, "How many years are you even playing? How long?" People that you talk to, they've played their whole life, 20 years, 10 years. Everybody has a story, but I had never played it. I think somebody bought me a ticket maybe once, maybe my mother or somebody for a birthday. I've never bought one. I won that money, that 250. I didn't have money that I wanted to use toward anything. I was in a place where I was really conserving, and I just said, "I'll use that money over the next couple of weeks and buy tickets. I'll just buy a ticket every couple of days," and that's what I did.

Timothy Schultz:

You continued to do this. Eventually, did it multiply? Did it go down in value? Did you continue winning? What happened?

Tom:

That's a great question. I had a couple of wins. I would get a couple of numbers here, like $10 or something. It didn't go anywhere. It stayed about the same. Maybe the last week, I was "Now I'm down, now I'm down, now I'm down." Over two weeks, it went to zero. That 250 ended up going to zero. I would just buy two tickets, three tickets, whatever, and it went to zero. That's what brings us to what finally happened.

Timothy Schultz:

These were computer picks or quick picks?

Tom:

They were quick picks. I don't think once I chose any numbers in that two weeks. It was all in the initial win, the 250. That was all a quick pick.

Timothy Schultz:

And then you ended up scoring this incredible 1.97 million jackpot. Were you out of funds and then you purchased one more? How did it come about? What happened with the winning ticket?

Tom:

That's where things start to get a little more interesting. In that two weeks I thought, "Maybe this is meant to be. I've won 250 on the first one. Maybe somebody is looking out for me. Maybe something is going to come out of this." At the end, I had no more money. Every time the Megabucks was being called, I would check to see what are the numbers, what do they mean, just anything jumping out at me. The very last day I ran out of money, and I said, "I guess this isn't going to happen." It was just putting me in a real dark place. I just said, "I have no idea what I'm going to do at this point." This was my last little hope. I called out to grandparents, my wife's father that she never really knew growing up because he died early, just everybody, being like "Look, this is the situation. I have your daughter and we have kids and everything. We need a place to live. We need some sort of glimmer of hope here, somehow." I just put everything into that wish. It's something I've never done before, just really putting it all out there. It was five quick picks, I believe. I sent you a screenshot. I think it was five. It was five quick picks. That was the one that did it. The answer came from that.

Timothy Schultz:

Oh my gosh. That's incredible. When you were putting out this wish, was this like a prayer? Was this you were verbally actually saying this out loud or were you just thinking this? Where were you?

Tom:

I was in bed. It was something that I did twice. I did it on my car ride home from work. On my car ride home, I think I did that out loud. It was my time in the car. Nobody can hear me or whatever. I did that out loud, and then I did it again. Just right before the numbers were going to be called, I did it in bed. The whole thing felt very unnatural, very supernatural. It just did. None of it felt normal. It felt like I connected with something or something heard me. It's like you've yelled a million times, but whoa, that one was different. I feel like I was heard.

Timothy Schultz:

What actually did you say when you were in the car and you did it out loud, and when you were in bed? I don't know that you did it out loud, but what actually were you evoking? What were you putting out there?

Tom:

I spelled out everything that had happened at that point. I thought I had everything figured out with the crypto thing. I thought everything was going to go in this direction. This happened, this happened, this happened, and now I have no play. I don't know how we got to this point, but here I am. Any help, any guidance, point me in a direction and I'll do it. It was that sort of thing. It was like "I'm out of options here. I don't know what to do."

Timothy Schultz:

Had you done something like this before?

Tom:

No, I really hadn't. I've prayed before and things like that, of course, but this was more primal. I don't know the word. It was from my gut. It was like, "I don't know what to do here." It was really strong. It was the strongest thing I've ever done. Since then, it was a feeling inside of just putting it all out there. I haven't felt that before. I really don't know how to explain it.

Timothy Schultz:

Was there a belief? Was there faith that you were being heard, that you were part of something greater at the time before you knew that you won?

Tom:

Yes. I definitely have always felt there are things way beyond myself. I'm definitely spiritual. I definitely have belief in that way of thinking. I'm spiritual. I don't believe everything is what we see right in front of us. I think there's higher powers at play, everything. I always have. I don't think I've ever doubted that. How everything works, I don't know. We could obviously go on for hours about that. Feeling like somebody actually hears you is interesting. I think we all pray or talk to. We reach out at times. I think we all do that, but I don't know that we always feel like "Hey, I was just heard on that one." That's what has never happened before or since.

Timothy Schultz:

I want to get into this feeling a little bit more in a little bit. With this purchase of this ticket, there were five minutes left before it was about to expire. There was something very interesting about one of the numbers on there. Can you tell me about that?

Tom:

Two of the numbers out of the winning numbers were my wife's birthday. It was almost like letting her father know what was going on in her situation. He's no longer with us. It was almost like if he had heard me, he put his signature on here's the winning number and here's her birthday. It was her birthday, two of the numbers. It was the month and the date of her birthday. It was pretty odd. Is it impossible? No, it's possible that could happen. There's a lot of things like that. When you put them all together, that's pretty coincidental.

Timothy Schultz:

You have all of these things that happen. It sounds like you're open-minded, but if you had to say "I think it's this or that," whether it's intuition, manifestation, guardian angels, God, what do you think happened?

Tom:

I believe all of that is on the table. There's nothing that you just said that I would say, "Definitely not." I think all of that is at play. I don't know if it all works together. There's God and then there's maybe guardian angels that are around you at times. People talk about accidents and having a guardian angel standing over them. I've heard of famous comedians that have died from car wrecks, people whose names you know. Somebody witnessed them dying and they were talking to somebody like "Well, it's not my time," and then they died. You hear so many stories like that. Maybe there is somebody that follows me around. If you keep that communication open, maybe you get direction from that, but maybe if you're not open to it, you don't. Maybe I am open to it. I guess that's all I can really say about that.

Timothy Schultz:

I want to get into the feeling of it a little more in a bit. Backing up, you had five minutes left to play. Is that right?

Tom:

It was making that decision of "I have no money left in that account. Do I want to just try one more time?" I was resisting the feeling of you should try one time, but then it kept jumping into my head. I was talking to a buddy on my phone through text, whatever conversation, how was the weekend or something, and it just kept jumping into my head. I was like, I wonder what the cutoff is so that I can get a ticket. It just kept coming into my head. It was 10 minutes and then I said "Forget about it." At five minutes, it just came back in my head like "Check and see how many minutes are left," and I did it again. All of these things are not normal for me, I think. It's not normal behavior for me to do that. I said "Okay, fine" and I did five quick picks with just a couple of minutes left, which is, again, another odd thing.

Timothy Schultz:

Wow. The outcome was spectacular with 1.97 million wins. Where were you? How did you find out that you won?

Tom:

My wife was putting our son to bed in another bedroom. I was finishing up some work and I was laying down in a bed in the spare room, which was an office sort of with a bed, a spare room to work out of. I was laying down in there. She was putting him to bed and I was trying to be quiet. Small place. I was talking to my buddy on the other line. After I had bought the ticket, it was just one of those things. I was like "I got that out of my mind. Onto the next thing. Forget about it." Because I bought it so close to the cutoff time, they were going to call the numbers in just a few minutes. You can buy tickets, I don't know how many minutes before they call it but whatever the cutoff is. I was right on the cutoff and they were going to call it soon after that. I just put it out of my mind, but about five or 10 minutes later, it popped back into my head like "They must have just called the numbers." That's when I checked.

Timothy Schultz:

Oh my gosh. You checked right after the drawing. Something was telling you, your intuition or voice in your head to check the numbers, that it had just happened. You saw that your numbers matched. Were you looking at the ticket in the app or what happened?

Tom:

That was weird. I opened the app up. This was strange too. Usually, all of your numbers are there in the app, all the quick pick numbers, but then the top is a blank space and they fill that in with the winning numbers. Those winning numbers you usually can't see in the app for 30 minutes to an hour. Why? I don't know. They don't update it quick enough. This time, on the winning time, the numbers were there almost immediately. Maybe that's a function of when you win, they put them there immediately. I have no idea, but they were there. Right after 9:00, I checked and the numbers were there. It was really bizarre. It also doesn't tell you that you've won yet. They'll put the numbers there, but they do these little check marks next to every number that you get. There were no check marks. When you open the app and you see the winning numbers, there are no check marks. You say, "I probably didn't win anything," so you don't look at the numbers that closely. I did happen to look at one of the lines out of the five. It was crazy. All the numbers were right there, but I said "That's got to be wrong because that doesn't say I won. There are no check marks." Maybe they put up the wrong numbers. They doubled my line and put it up here. I had no idea. I kept refreshing the screen. The final time I refreshed the screen, this whole yellow line appeared at the bottom of my screen with an amount of money. When that appeared, all these check marks appeared on the line that I won. Then it was just like, "Wait a minute. How much is that?" Again, the disbelief kicks in. This is a scam. They're probably going to ask for my social security number next or whatever. You're waiting for all of this. It can't be real. Then I looked online to make sure those were actually the winning numbers, and then I said, "I don't know how they could be scamming me" because I did pick those numbers. I started to believe that I may have won.

Timothy Schultz:

This was a computer pick, right? You didn't pick those.

Tom:

Yes. They were quick picks. None of the numbers I chose.

Timothy Schultz:

When you saw this, initially you were in disbelief but then you started to believe this. Was your heart going a million miles an hour? What were you feeling at the time?

Tom:

Yes, it was. I wanted to go show my wife, but she was putting my son to bed. I said, "This is too big not to interrupt. I have to show it to her. Maybe she'll see something I don't see. Maybe I'm losing my mind. Maybe there's a lack of sleep kicking in." I walked into the other room and I showed her. She didn't even know what I was showing her. "What is this, some app? What are we talking about here?" It wasn't like I was playing some crazy game or something. I don't know what she thought I was showing her. She said, "These numbers match those numbers. What does that mean? What is this?" I don't even know that she knew it was a lottery app. She agreed with me that everything matched up, and she wanted to know what that meant. I showed her it means this down here, if it's real, and she was just like "What? That can't be." She was super skeptical. She didn't know what to believe. I don't think she believed it.

Timothy Schultz:

What did she think that was happening?

Tom:

She wanted to know what the app was. She'd never heard of it, just like I had never heard it.

Timothy Schultz:

This was Lotto.com?

Tom:

Lotto.com, yes. I guess it's getting fairly popular now. Right after I showed her, I think I got an email from Lotto.com. It was the same email I got before when I won the 250, so I go, "Okay, they're acknowledging that." Even then, I thought, "Maybe the 250 that I won, all the ticket, maybe that wasn't real money." See what I mean? All the tickets I was buying with that, maybe that wasn't even real. Maybe it was just part of the scam. I don't know. I got an email and they said "You won," and blah, blah, blah. They gave me some information and I couldn't go to bed after that. I was up all night because I was waiting for a phone call or something. I don't know what I was waiting for.

Timothy Schultz:

It is a good question. Different places have different rules. How do they inform you if you just won nearly a $2 million jackpot? It's the middle of the night and no one's called you or anything. You just received this message. You stayed up all night. Did you have a plan after that or did they contact you? What happened?

Tom:

I don't know if the email told me. It said "You won," and I think it said that they would be reaching out to me. I got another email. Since I was up all night, I can't say that I woke up and got it because I was already awake. I got another email in the morning probably when their office opens, and it was more of a personal email rather than an automated thing. It was from the president or the CEO or something of the app, saying that he would call me at such and such time. I was like, "Oh great" and I responded "Congratulations," the whole deal. I'm still skeptical, but I'm starting to believe that this is really happening at this point.

Timothy Schultz:

And then you met with him or you spoke with him?

Tom:

He called me and said "Congratulations," the whole deal. He told me what the next steps would be. I had to go to their office in Boston. They have the physical ticket in lockup there. I don't really know exactly how it works, but the physical ticket was in their possession. I had to sign a bunch of paperwork and take pictures with them, and then take that ticket to the lottery office in Boston in another location. The Lotto.com office was in one place and then the lottery offices in another.

Timothy Schultz:

That's really interesting. This sounds like it's a courier service.

Tom:

Yes, it is weird. It was odd. It was very strange. It wasn't in the greatest area where you pick up the ticket. It wasn't in the greatest part of Boston, so it's pretty odd. They gave me balloons and things like that and I'm like, "Oh God." I walk out of the office with all this. I'm going toward my car and there's guys sitting right next to my car. I look over and they're just staring at me. I have a ticket worth almost $2 million in balloons and they're just staring at me. I go, what an odd system to give me that right here. It was really odd. I just looked over at those guys, then I look back and I'm like, "All right, let's get out of here." It was pretty strange.

Timothy Schultz:

Wow, that's incredible. For people that are watching or listening that aren't familiar though, sometimes people win huge prizes like you just did on this courier service. The way it works typically, my understanding is that they purchase the physical tickets. You're purchasing through their app, but they purchase the physical tickets so it makes sense that you would have to get the ticket through them and then take it to the lottery office. That's really interesting.

Tom:

You've got to imagine the person that has that ticket in their possession is just like, "Oh God. I've got to give this to this guy." They must be just dying having to hold onto that. I'm sure everybody's doing their job, but it's got to be brutal.

Timothy Schultz:

Yes, to think that. I guess to stay in business, to maintain credibility, they have to actually give the tickets out.

Tom:

I had to pull it pretty hard.

Timothy Schultz:

You had this 1.97 million ticket, just a piece of paper that you knew was worth a jackpot of this massive size. What did you do with it? Did you immediately drive to the lottery office? Did you contact an attorney? What happened?

Tom:

I did not contact an attorney. I look back and think about how I did everything. The reason I didn't was because I knew 100% what that money was going to be used for. I pretty much knew how much I would get out of it after taxes within reason. I knew that it was going on a house. I knew that I wasn't going to try to take it over a bunch of different years. I wasn't going to have an LLC or some kind of trust. I'd read about some of that and I wasn't going to go that route. It was going to a house and it was going to a house very soon, down payment on a house, keep the mortgage super low, which is essentially what we were able to do.

Timothy Schultz:

I want to get into that in a minute, but were you able to claim the prize? Did you have the option of claiming it anonymously or publicly? Did you not have a choice or how was that?

Tom:

I did sign paperwork that would allow them to use my likeness or whatever. I could have said no to all that, but everybody was so nice. I didn't want to be that guy, I guess. I just felt bad. Somebody gives you all of this stuff and you're like, "No autographs please" or whatever. I didn't want to be that guy.

Timothy Schultz:

Was there a different rule with the courier service? Did they require you to claim it a certain way or no?

Tom:

I don't think they did. They use my face all of the time on that app. I get emails from them and it's me holding a check. I didn't really expect that, because they use it a lot. Pretty much every time I get any email from them, I can see myself on the email. There are a few things that I would have maybe liked to say "Be cool if you didn't. Maybe I'll check that box." There are a few things like that. I wish maybe they didn't put me everywhere on the app, but it's okay I guess.

Timothy Schultz:

When people do claim prizes publicly, then they want to show that there's real people winning.

Tom:

True.

Timothy Schultz:

But I can't speak for them. When you claimed it at the lottery office, did they take a picture holding the large check?

Tom:

They did, yes. That number that you see on the check, that's superimposed. They add that after. I always wondered that because it always looks a little odd. You're just holding a blank check basically.

Timothy Schultz:

That's interesting. Were they treating you like royalty? How was it when you were actually in there claiming the prize?

Tom:

Everybody was really nice. The way it was for me, I don't know about other people, but I went up to a window with everybody else that are bringing in scratch tickets. The guy two windows over won $1,000 or whatever. You're seeing everybody and the reaction and the tellers and everything. When I gave them my ticket, the guy is just taking it like normal, doing his job. Then they look at it and they punch in a couple of things, and then they just stop for a minute. Really quietly, he's like "Oh, congratulations," and then he keeps going again. He's like, "Wow, you don't see that every day." I think they're surprised they don't see that all day long.

Timothy Schultz:

That's amazing. Did you have the option of taking the lump sum or the annuity? Oftentimes in the USA, there's the option of taking the full prize before taxes or a certain cash payout before taxes that's lower, but it's a big chunk.

Tom:

I could have kept the 1.97 over many years. I think it worked out to be something around 100,000 a year for the life, whatever it is, 20 years, or the lump sum payout which was 1.33 million, before taxes of course.

Timothy Schultz:

Wow, that's amazing. What did you choose and how much after taxes? Are you able to say?

Tom:

Yes. I chose the lump sum which was 1.33. They take federal and state right out of that and gave me a check for, I want to say 947,000.

Timothy Schultz:

How did that feel having that check? What was your reaction, or did you get a reaction when you were depositing that from whoever was helping you?

Tom:

It was really interesting, because usually I get checks and I do a mobile deposit or at the ATM. I was like, "Probably not going to do that with this one." It was odd having that in my hands. Then when you bring it to the bank, there's a whole new set of reactions when you go there. They have to go get the higher manager and then he has to go get a higher manager. It's weird. When they see a certain amount of money, everybody starts talking, "Maybe pitch him this plan or this thing." They want to get you involved in every program that they have.

Timothy Schultz:

They knew that it was from the lottery because the check was from the lottery. Were there certain reactions about that? Some people have different thoughts, opinions and stuff about that. They think about it a little differently if it comes from what people will call a stroke of luck.

Tom:

Yes, they did. The only weird thing with that was I had to wait. I think it was seven to 10 days before the money was available. They do all kinds of checks and probably call the lottery office and everything. There's some sort of protocol that they have for if it's over a certain amount of money.

Timothy Schultz:

I found it really interesting because you put this towards a house. This is what you wanted before you played, right? This is what you were seeking, a house and that's what you were wishing for. Is that correct?

Tom:

What I forgot to mention before was with all of the lottery prizes that I was looking at, I only played the Megabucks because I said, "I just want enough for a house." When I had given that whole speech there on the car and everything, I literally said, "I'm not looking for Powerball. I'm not looking for Mega Millions. I don't need that kind of money. I'm just looking for a house. I'm just looking to replace the money that was lost," which is essentially after taxes what I did. That's a big part of the story, which I think about a lot.

Timothy Schultz:

Your intention and your mind, this is exactly what you were hoping for or aiming for when this happened. You think about this a lot. What do you think about it now? What are your thoughts?

Tom:

You hear the word manifesting. You hear things like that and what does that really mean. Essentially, that is what happened. That was in my mind. That amount was in my mind. That amount is what I asked for. That amount is what I got. It did not feel natural. It felt like there was somebody that was sitting next to you going, "Okay, I hear you. Let me see what I can do." It was really strange. I've never felt it before, as I said.

Timothy Schultz:

Why do you think that this happened? Do you think it was because you put out this intention? What do you think? You have all these aspects to your story. It kept popping up in your head to play and then to check the tickets, your intuition. You put this intention out there. You've felt it. You felt like you were part of something greater. I'm not putting words in your mouth.

Tom:

No.

Timothy Schultz:

Retrospectively, from your perspective, what do you think?

Tom:

Timothy Schultz:

Wow.

Tom:

I feel like whoever is around me, whoever looked at the situation -- I don't know. I think I had some sort of help in a spiritual way. It was my time to get a little help. I don't know. There's millions and billions of people that need help. I also look at it and say "why me," because everybody needs help. I don't know. Manifestation comes into play. Sometimes I think about that.

Timothy Schultz:

A lot of people that are into manifestation, a lot of people listening or watching this -- not everybody, but a lot of people are at least open-minded. Regardless, people that are, people really swear by the belief of it. If you didn't have the belief, you wouldn't have played. Play responsibly if you play the lottery, of course. I'm not encouraging people to play, but if you play, play responsively. You had the belief of it. Was there a letting go or a belief that you're part of something? You put this intention out there and you just let it go or no? How did that feel to you?

Tom:

I felt like that was the last time I was going to play. I had that in my mind. I was beyond done. I was like, "Oh my God. I'll play one more time. After that, this is it. I've got to go to plan Z." Whatever helped me, let's say, they knew that or it knew that, if you want to go down that road. They knew that I was done, because I knew that I was done. There are other people that play for 20, 30 years. Whatever was helping me knew that I was done. They were going to help me then. They were going to have to try to find a different way to do it, however that would be.

Timothy Schultz:

It's an incredible story. It definitely doesn't seem like just a mere coincidence. All these things lined up. It's amazing. I really appreciate you coming on here to share it. If somebody watching or listening to this happens to win a similar amount, close to a two million jackpot -- it can happen to anybody. Never spend more than you can afford to lose is what I suggest people do if they do play. If they do win, what's your advice for them?

Tom:

Try to live like you were living before. I'm a big proponent of not living to a new means, like, "Oh well, I'm here now so I'm going to get this stuff." Try to be like "I'm here now and I'm going to live here still." Put the money into things that are really important for your future, your kid's future, to make your situation better but don't do it with material things that just come and go, because that's something that you're going to chase. You're going to chase that your whole life. If you have that mindset, you're never going to get ahead. I know people that get huge raises in their jobs, and they still owe everybody money. They can't make that. They can't stay here when their situation comes up. I think that's the best advice that I could give, is try to live within your means and not chase things that don't matter because none of that matters really, honestly.

Timothy Schultz:

That's interesting. It goes back to what actually makes someone happy. Is it the material possessions or is it something else?

Tom:

It's an interesting thing to ponder. Especially being a musician, which I am, a new guitar comes out, things like that. You always think you need it. "Oh, if I just get that guitar, I'll be happy." No, you won't.

Timothy Schultz:

The grass is always greener. You can view it that way. I don't think that's always the healthiest. You mentioned that you're a musician. That's amazing. It sounds like you play guitar. What are you doing with that and where can people find you if they wish to learn more about that?

Tom:

I teach in the Boston area. I used to tour and perform and all of that. Now I'm trying to stay a little bit closer to home. I did that when I was younger. I have a music school on our property called the Ipswich River Music Academy. It's ipswichrivermusicacademy.com. I will be teaching online as well. I'll be teaching online on our property here. That's what I'm trying to do, trying to stay home and see kids and have a normal life which I've never had. I'm trying to spend some more quality time at home.

Timothy Schultz:

You're not just some sort of novice musician, because you have played with some extremely famous or at least toured with some extremely famous musicians that are A-list people. Can you name a couple of them?

Tom:

I've performed with some and supported some on tours. I was on the H.O.R.D.E tour back in '97 with Neil Young, Beck, Ben Folds Five, Ween, Toad the Wet Sprocket. I was the drummer on the jam stage as well, so I would play with all of the guys on the tour. We would go on another stage and do this whole jam. I played with everybody doing that, done tours supporting Bob Dylan, Paul Simon. I was friendly with Lynyrd Skynyrd back in the day. A lot of them have died off, unfortunately. I did dates with Lynyrd Skynyrd, Bo Diddley, Howard Stern shows, Super Bowls, Canadian Super Bowls, U.S. Super Bowl, Grey Cup it's called in Canada. I did a lot of stuff like that. It was a lot of fun, TV shows. I used to write different music for some different TV shows, things like that.

Timothy Schultz:

That's incredible. Now, in addition to all these amazing things, these famous people you've brushed shoulders with and played with, you have another thing that you have won the lottery. A jackpot.

Tom:

It's maybe the biggest one. It's a big one.

Timothy Schultz:

I am so happy for you and I really appreciate you coming on to the show. Is there anything else that you want to say about your story that I didn't ask, or maybe I just don't know enough to ask or that you just want to stay.

Tom:

I think people really get caught up in their own little world, especially on their devices. Everybody's like this nowadays. When you and I were younger, we were a lot more in tune with things going on around us. I think we need to get back to those times. I think that we're getting lost in this digital world, this virtual world. I teach a lot of kids and I see their addictions on these devices, and adults, of course. I think we need to really stop and listen to everything going on around us. Maybe we'll get clues to different directions or things that we're afraid to do. I think taking chances has been a big thing that I've done in life, getting thrown into the fire, into situations where I'm like, "I don't have time to prepare for this," and then I'm playing in front of 30,000 people or something. I think it's good to jump into that a lot of times, most times. Something good is on the other side of that. I think just keeping your eyes and ears open and trying to connect to the energy around us, rather than this energy which can be negative at times. You have a YouTube channel, so I don't want to say too much about screen time. Please watch Tim's channel, people. I think you know what I mean. This is a real positive atmosphere, of course.

Timothy Schultz:

Thanks for the plug there. It makes complete sense. Our society has changed so much, and people are definitely glued to devices and stuff. It's way easier. They're designed that way, to try to keep your attention instead of looking at what's around. I completely understand what you're saying. I greatly, greatly appreciate you coming on here. Your story is amazing. I'd love to host you another time in the future, but I really appreciate it. Is there anything else you want to say today before we sign off?

Tom:

No, that's it. I appreciate everybody that made it through this segment. Thanks for listening. Hopefully everybody has a great summer. Great things come to you if you keep your eyes and your ears open, and you're keeping an open mind about what's possible and not closing your mind off to possibilities.

Timothy Schultz:

I love that. Tom, thank you very much. I really appreciate it. That's a beautiful story and I love your mindset. Congratulations again.

Tom:

Thanks for having me, Tim. It was a pleasure. The pleasure is mine.