 New York governor Hugh Carey suspended sales for about nine months in 1975-76 due to a scandal involving unsold tickets being selected as "winners".Another scandal in 1986 involved state employees manipulating mail-in tickets in a mail room to result in over $40,000 in winning to friends and family.The first big winner of the Lottery was Lou Eisenberg, who won $5 million in 1981; in that era, winners could not choose cash in lieu of annuity payments.