He had a golden ticket -- and gave it away

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PITTSBURGH -- A pharmacist put the old axiom about it being better to give than to receive to the ultimate Christmas test.Fred DePasquale bought a selection of tickets in the $1 million lottery and handed them out to family.Wednesday, the 38-year-old who essentially gave away $1 million to in-laws for Christmas was having no second thoughts. He was delighted to give the winning ticket. The in-laws, whom he won't name for the time being, were delighted to get the winning ticket."I can't say that I play that often," said DePasquale. "I'm just not a lottery player. Not a gambler. But for a raffle like this you buy them and give them away."For his troubles, DePasquale at least gets a $5,000 bonus for selling a $1 million winner, said Lottery Commission spokeswoman Elizabeth Brassell.DePasquale's pharmacy, The Medicine Shoppe, was one of three area outlets that accounted for three of the five $1 million tickets sold in the $20-a-ticket lottery. It's the fourth drawing of its kind, with a limited number of tickets -- 625,000 -- sold."They're actually the best odds the lottery offers," said DePasquale. The chances of winning the $1 million are 1-in-125,000, according to the Pennsylvania Lottery Commission.While he's not giving up the names just now, DePasquale was willing to say this much about the winners:They are in-laws on his wife's side.He's godfather to their daughter.They have another baby on the way.In short order they expect not to have a mortgage on their home."They're thrilled. They're jumping out of their skin," said DePasquale.And no, for the cynics out there, he's not wishing he'd kept the ticket for himself."All it was to me was a $20 ticket in my hand," he said. "That's like giving a shirt for Christmas and asking them if you could wear it New Year's Eve."(Dennis B. Roddy can be reached at droddy(at)post-gazette.com.)(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)