Joyce Derenzis of Harrison has claimed the top prize of $1,000,000 on the Wheel of Fortune Scratch-off game. Derenzis, a former bartender and waitress who left her job seven years ago to care for her mother, says she plays Lottery once in a while.

“I was with my mother who has Alzheimer’s. She was talking to me and thought my birthday was February 12. Then she looked at me and told me I was going to win a lot of money.”

Derenzis then felt like she had to play. “I walked in the store so I could play 2-1-2. As soon as I looked at the tickets I saw the Wheel of Fortune game. That’s my mother’s favorite TV show and I knew I had to get it.”

After purchasing two tickets, Joyce went home, “I had to go and take care of my mom so I gave the tickets to my boyfriend, Vincent, and told him to scratch them.”

While she was in the room Vincent opened the door, “He couldn’t talk. I looked at the ticket and thought it was a mistake. I went back to the store and had the clerk scan it. She came around the counter and hugged me.”

Derenzis has chosen to receive her $1,000,000 prize in a one-time lump sum payment netting her $536,058 after required withholdings.

Derenzis said she has no plans yet for the money because it doesn’t seem real, “I can’t think. I’m blank. But I do know I want to help my kids and the humane shelter, I am a big animal lover.”

Derenzis is the 22nd New York Lottery player to win a prize of $1,000,000 or more in 2016.

The New York Lottery contributed $91,075,152 in Lottery Aid To Education to school districts in Westchester 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.