NEW YORK, NY – New homes, special cars and warm vacations top the holiday wish lists of New York’s newest Lottery millionaires. The winners, including a $12,400,000 million Lotto winner from Nassau County and the State’s first three inductees into the exclusive MONOPOLY MILLIONAIRES’ CLUB, received their over-sized prize checks today from Yolanda Vega beneath a 40-foot Christmas tree at Resorts World Casino New York City.

 

Hicksville stay-at-home dad credits daughter’s help with winning $12,400,000 Lotto jackpot  

Thomas Rea of Hicksville took up watchmaking as a second career following a debilitating injury. A few years after learning the trade, the 55-year-old Rea said he decided to stay home to raise his only daughter.  Rea credits that now college-aged daughter with helping him pick the six winning numbers for the November 19 Lotto drawing that made him $12,400,000 million richer.

 

“We’ve been doing this for a while,” Rea said of the pair’s father-daughter system for picking numbers. “Every year or so, if our numbers haven’t come out, we tweak them a little and try some new ones.  I’ve been playing these numbers for about a year so it’s a good thing we didn’t switch them yet.”

 

Rea said his grooming regime also played into his winning experience. “Whenever I get a haircut I go to the stationery store down the street to get tickets,” he explained. Rea purchased his life-changing Lotto ticket at the Yogi 422 Card and Gift Shop at 442 Jerusalem Ave. in Hicksville.

 

Rea said he checked his winning numbers on the Lottery’s Web site (nylottery.ny.gov) the day after the drawing and saw a match on all six numbers drawn.

 

“I had to keep double checking the numbers and the date,” he said. “I was looking for an error I made.”

 

The winning numbers for the November 19 Lotto drawing were 12  27  30  32  43 and 50.

 

Rea opted to take his prize in one lump sum payment of $8,326,692 (net $5,510,605). He said his win still feels surreal, which is keeping him from making any concrete plans. But, he said, he is interested in investing in a retirement home somewhere Upstate.

 

Bronx College student hits the big time with $5 million Hit $5,000,000! scratch-off win

Biological Psychology major Genesis Coste of the Bronx recently claimed a top prize on the Hit $5,000,000! scratch-off game. The Pelham Park native had planned to go back to her seasonal job at the mall to make extra money for the holidays. But Coste’s plans changed when the college junior scratched and matched on a Hit $5,000,000! ticket, earning her the ticket’s namesake prize.

 

Coste credits a “pop in” visit to her mother’s workplace for her change of fortune.

 

“I stopped by my mother’s workplace to eat lunch with her and decided to run across the street for a drink,” explained the 20-year-old aspiring physician’s assistant. “That’s when I decided to buy a ticket. It was pure luck. Spontaneous. There was no rhyme or reason for picking this ticket over another.” Coste said she scratched the ticket in the store saw a match on the number 36 with $5,000,000 jackpot amount printed below.

 

“It didn’t click automatically for me,” she said. “I put it through the scanner and that’s when I knew.” Coste said she returned to her mother’s office and gave the ticket to her for safekeeping. “She never let it out of her sight after that,” she said.  

 

Coste opted to take the cash value of the $5,000,000 annuity prize which amounts to $3,115,200 after required withholdings. Coste said the thing she finds most exciting about winning is knowing that her mother can cut back on the two jobs she’s been working to afford college tuition.

 

“This will make life more comfortable, less hectic for my family,” she said. “I’ll be very happy to see my mom not working for a change.”

 

Coste said she plans to finish college and invest her money “so it keeps generating more.” She said she would like to buy a home for her family with whom she now shares an apartment. “And, I want to travel,’ she said. “That’s definitely something I want to do.”

 

Coste bought her $5 million-winning ticket at the West Village Grocery at 46 8^th Ave. in Manhattan.

 

Disney or Hawaii? $4 million Mega Millions Multiplier winner from Coram can’t decide

Margaret Clark, 46, of Coram was grocery shopping at the King Kullen on Route 25 in Selden when she passed by a Lottery self-service machine.  The accounting professional who “rarely plays the Lottery” said she saw the jackpot for the November 4 Mega Millions drawing was $326,000,000 and decided to try her luck. Not knowing how the game worked, Clark unintentionally purchased the game’s optional Megaplier feature that multiplies the value of any lower tier Mega Millions prize up to five times its value.

 

Clark said she checked her numbers in the newspaper soon after the drawing and saw that five of her numbers matched, making her a $1,000,000 second prize winner.  Her unintended Megaplier purchase boosted her prize to $4,000,000.

 

The winning numbers for the November 4 Mega Millions drawing were 9 15 24 39 41 and Mega Ball (1).

 

Like all Mega Millions second prize winners, Clark will receive her prize in a single payment. Her net check will total $2,647,200. Clark said she plans to continue working and will use her winnings to take a vacation next year with her husband to celebrate the couple’s 15 year wedding anniversary. While plans for the trip are certain, Clark said the pair’s destination remains up in the air. “We’re still debating whether to go to Disney or Hawaii,” she laughed.  

 

Brooklyn maintenance man wins $3,000,000 scratch-off prize fit for a king

What are the odds that a Lottery player named Brian King would win a top prize on the New York Lottery’s King’s Ransom scratch-off game? One in 3,893,400 to be exact. The irony of winning on this particular ticket isn’t lost on the maintenance worker from East New York with the royal last name.  

 

“I’ve been playing King’s Ransom since it came out because my name is on it!” explained the 48-year-old the father of two.

 

King said he scratched his winning $10 ticket right at the Guruhari News Stand on West 16^th St. where he bought it and saw he had a jackpot winner.

 

“I did a couple double takes. I was shocked,” he said.

 

King said after seeing the match on the number 7 on the top and bottom of his ticket, he shook the newsstand worker’s hand and rushed back to work to clock out before racing to the Lottery’s Plainview Customer Service Center to claim his prize.

 

King chose to receive the cash value of the $3,000,000 annuity prize. He will receive a one-time cash payment of $2,340,000 (net $1,457,914).  He said he plans to help out his grown children and will figure out the rest “once reality sets in.”

 

Bayside school teacher goes from sceptic to believer with $2,500 A Week For Life prize

Forty-two-year-old school teacher Noralyn Ebrahem of Bayside is a Lottery jackpot winner who, until recently, doubted if anyone ever won a Lottery jackpot prize. Her doubts faded soon after learning the $5 scratch-off ticket she bought during a chance dinner with her mom was worth at least $2,500,000.

 

“I was visiting my mother for dinner and decided to go to the corner store and purchase a lottery ticket,” explained the 19-year teaching veteran.  Ebrahem said she settled on the $2,500 A Week For Life scratch-off ticket because “it looked interesting and fun.”

 

Ebrahem said that “fun” quickly gave way to anxiety that prevented her from sleeping until she was able to claim her prize. In fact, she said the whole winning experience has been a real eye opener. “Now I know that jackpot-winning tickets really do exist.”

 

Ebrahem has not yet decided if she wants to receive her prize as an annuity that will pay her $2,500 a year for life or as a one-time payment equal to the cash value of the annuity prize.

 

Regardless of her choice she plans to “pay off some debt and treat myself to something special, like a car,” she said.

 

Ebrahem purchased her ticket at the Amigo Mini Mart at 118 Delancey St. in Manhattan.

 

Three from Manhattan, Rego Park, and Glen Head inducted into Monopoly Millionaires’ Club

Norma Ramos of Manhattan, Victor Olaya of Rego Park and Steven Dobies of Glen Head share the distinction of being the first New York Lottery players to win a $1,000,000 Club prize from the new MONOPOLY MILLIONAIRES’ CLUB multi-state game. All three won their prizes from the November 7 drawing.

 

Fifty-five-year-old Norma Ramos of Manhattan was cashing in a scratch-off ticket when she decided to try her luck on the new game.

 

“I planned on buying another scratch-off, but then thought I might have beginners luck on the new Monopoly Millionaires’ (Club) game,” she said. The next day Ramos checked her ticket online at www.playmmc.com.

 

“I was disappointed I didn’t win the top prize and thought ‘I should have never played this game’ but then I noticed I still had another chance of winning. I scrolled down the computer screen to the ‘New York Winners’ section and my number matched the first on the list. I was stunned!” said the New York City Department of Finance employee.

 

Ramos will receive her Club prize in one lump sum payment totaling $623,040. The mother of three said her plans for the money include buying a house and giving to charity.

 

Ramos purchased her winning ticket at Nassau Gift Shop at 65 Nassau Street in Manhattan.

 

“It’s always somebody’s turn to win and this time, it’s mine.” That’s how 54-year-old Victor Olaya of Rego Park summed up his $1 million Club prize win. Olaya purchased his quick pick ticket from a vending machine at the Super Deli at 144-10 Northern Blvd. in Flushing.

 

The physical therapy assistant said he purchased the ticket because he “liked the little Monopoly top hats” displayed in the machine window. He said he scanned his ticket last week at the same machine from which he bought it and knew it was a winner, but it wasn’t until he claimed his prize that he realized it was a seven-figure prize.  

 

“I scanned it three times and each time I got the same message, ‘Big winner. Contact Lottery authorities. Sign your ticket,’ but I couldn’t find anything that told me how big, big is until I claimed it,” said the Columbia-born father of two.

 

Like his fellow Club inductees, Olaya will receive the cash value of his $1,000,000 prize, earning him a one-time net payment of $623,040.

 

Oraya said he’s going to take his time deciding what to do with the cash. “I will not go crazy,” he said. “I’d like to make it grow; triple it or even quadruple it and then see what my options are.”

 

Steven Dobies, a self-employed bookkeeper from Glen Head, is an avid lottery player who said even he had a hard time believing his own good luck. Dobies spent $10 on two quick pick tickets for the November 7 MONOPOLY MILLIONAIRES’ CLUB drawing and checked his winning numbers the next day.

 

“I asked the clerk for a printout of the winning numbers.  I saw I wasn’t the Top Prize winner but that my numbers matched the Club prize. I still wasn’t sure if I had won the million but I thought, maybe. Stuff like this doesn’t happen to me.”

 

Dobies said he was “99.9 percent sure” he had a $1,000,000 winner when he entered the Lottery’s Plainview office to claim his prize. “After that,” he said. “I just went numb.”

 

The Nassau County father of one will receive his prize in one net payment of $661,800 after required withholdings. Dobies purchased his ticket at KG Cards Gift & Art Gallery at 33 Park Plaza in Glen Head. Dobies said he has always wanted to own a house and this might be the time to realize that dream.

 

The MONOPOLY MILLIONAIRES’ CLUB lottery game features three ways to win $1 million. Players can win the Top Prize that is capped at $25,000,000 million. Once a Top Prize is won, a separate drawing that awards Millionaires’ Club prizes of $1,000,000 each is conducted. Players also have a shot at a $1,000,000 prize on an upcoming national primetime “MONOPOLY MILLIONAIRES’ CLUB” TV game show, which will debut in February. The show will feature an audience of lottery players who have been randomly selected after completing MONOPOLY-themed Property Sets by entering codes from their tickets on www.playmmc.com.

 

The New York Lottery contributed $1,048,350,198.80 in Lottery Aid To Education to school districts throughout New York City during fiscal year 2013-2014 and $132,384,615.16 and $240,273,853.81 throughout school districts in Nassau and Suffolk Counties respectively  during the same time period.

 

About the New York Lottery

The New York Lottery continues to be North America’s largest and most profitable Lottery, contributing $3.04 billion in fiscal year 2012-2013 to help support education in New York State.  The Lottery’s contribution represents 15 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.

 

 

About the New York State Gaming Commission

The New York State Gaming Commission regulates all aspects of gaming and gambling activity in the state, including horse racing and pari-mutuel wagering, class III Indian gaming, video lottery terminal facilities at race tracks, the state lottery and charitable gaming.