PLAINVIEW, N.Y. – The New York Lottery’s Yolanda Vega and Amanda Serrano presented over-sized prize checks worth $5,500,000 to Long Island’s newest Lottery millionaires. The winners included a family of seven who split the $2,500,000 top prize on the $2,500 a Week for Life scratch-off ticket and an owner of a swimming pool business who won the $3,000,000 top prize on the new $3,000,000 Frenzy scratch-off ticket.

Bay Shore Grandmother Splits $2,500,000 Lottery Win with Family

Irene Murray and her family have a long-standing tradition of giving Lottery tickets to each other as presents. However, it was a random purchase by Murray that led to their $2,500,000 win on the popular $2,500 a Week for Life scratch-off ticket.

“All of us play on occasion, but my mother plays the most,” explained the family’s spokesperson Robert Murray. “She plays all of the games, but chose this one that day for no rhyme or reason.”

The elder Murray scratched off matching 15s earning her the guaranteed $2,500,000 top prize.

“My mom was in disbelief after she scratched the ticket so she brought it to my office for me to take a look at,” explained Murray. “To be honest, I was in disbelief too.”

Murray opted to receive her prize as a one-time lump sum payment and split it with her 6 children and grandchildren.   The breakdown of payments is as follows:

Robert Murray of Islip - $821,310 (net $543,542)                                   

Kathleen Castoro of Bay Shore - $821,310 (net $543,542)

Irene Murray of Bay Shore - $205,328 (net $135,886)

William Murray of Islip - $51,332 (net $33,972)

Samantha Castoro of Bay Shore - $51,332 (net $33,972)

Nicholas Castoro of Bay Shore - $51,332 (net $33,972)

Daniel Murray of Islip - $51,331 (net $33,971)

“We never thought this would happen so we don’t really know what we’ll do with the winnings,” said Murray. “We are all just happy that my mom decided to share this with us out of the goodness of her heart.”

Rocky Point Business Owner Hits First Jackpot Prize on the new $3,000,000 Frenzy Ticket

Tosh Kazdal is $3,000,000 richer after scratching off the jackpot-winning combination on the new $3,000,000 Frenzy ticket.  Kazdal, who has a unique strategy when it comes to playing Lottery scratch-off tickets, knew he was a big winner before he even started scratching the ticket.

“I stopped at the store with a friend and had $25 in previous winners,” explained the owner of a swimming pool business. “I saw that someone else had a few of these tickets that were losers so I decided to buy a couple.”

“I don’t usually scratch the whole ticket,” he continued. “I just scan the bar code.  When I scanned this one it said ‘big winner’ so I knew I won something big.  That’s when I went outside and slowly started scratching the ticket.  When I saw the word ‘jackpot’ I started screaming.  I screamed so loud I lost my voice!”

Kazdal opted to receive his prize as one-time lump sum totaling $2,410,000. His net check will total $1,594,938 after required withholding.

“I haven’t really given any thought to how I will spend the money,” said Kazdal. “I’m just very happy for the win.”

The New York Lottery contributed $ 245,728,807 in Lottery Aid To Education to school districts in Suffolk county during fiscal year 2014-15.

About the New York Lottery

The New York Lottery continues to be North America’s largest and most profitable Lottery, contributing $3.11 billion in fiscal year 2014-2015 to help support education in New York State.  The Lottery’s contribution represents 14 percent of total state education aid to local school districts. 

New York Lottery revenue is distributed to local school districts by the same statutory formula used to distribute other state aid to education.  It takes into account both a school district’s size and its income level; larger, lower-income school districts receive proportionately larger shares of Lottery school funding.