Island Chef Becomes The Third Million Dollar Scratch Ticket Winner From Old South Diner

We can now confirm the Old South Diner is the luckiest place in the world.

For the third time in the past six months, the diner has sold a million-dollar scratch ticket. This time the lucky winner is island chef Sean Durnin, who won $1 million on the Mass Lottery’s new “$10,000,000 Bonanza” $20 scratch ticket game.

Durnin - the owner of Sushi Sean's 11:11 Market & Bistro on Pleasant Street - said that while delivering food around the island in his truck, a car seat that was stored in the back of his truck had fallen out along the way. While retracing his route, he stopped at the Old South Diner to get a snack and also decided to buy an instant ticket. He left the diner and was on his way home when he finally found the car seat. After experiencing that bit of good fortune, he scratched his ticket to reveal an even greater windfall. Durnin said his wife and son are his universe, he loves what he does, and he plans on putting his winnings toward investments for their son.

"It was surreal," Durnin told the Current Wednesday morning about the moment he scratched the ticket to reveal the $1 million prize. "I thought I was on a TV show, like it was a prank. I was waiting for someone to say 'Got ya!' and it would be a reality show."

Durnin said he was certainly aware of the hot streak of winners at the Old South Diner before deciding to buy the ticket there.

"What is it with that place?" he said. "Yeah I had heard about them (the prior winners). I said 'I might as well buy one here.' It's crazy that people have won there so many times."

The past 24 hours have been a whirlwind, he added, but he acknowledged that winning $1 million at this stage in his life - with a family and a new business - is a lot different than had he won 10 or 20 years ago.

"This is so surreal, but at the same time, 20 years ago it would have been crazy. Now? It's like, we get to pay down some debt and do adult things with it instead of taking 10 of my pals to the Bahamas," he said with a laugh. "This isn't about me, it's about putting away money for my son. And now I get back to work."

Beyond investing the money for his family, Durnin said he and his wife planned to make some donations to island charities.

The string of winners at Old South Diner began March 11, when a $1 million prize was won on a “$4,000,000 Bonus Bucks” $10 ticket, and continued on June 10 when a $2 million prize was won on a “Lifetime Millions” $50 ticket. The diner receives a $10,000 bonus for its sale of the winning tickets, adding to the combined total of $30,000 it has already received for the previous two winning tickets sold.

Since January of 2023, the Old South Diner is the only location in the state that has had three such instant prize winners. Eight other locations have had two.