PLAINVIEW, N.Y. – The New York Lottery’s Gretchen Dizer today presented over-sized prize checks worth a combined $12,000,000 to scratch-off game winners from Lindenhurst, Islip, Melville and Holtsville. Two other out-of-state winners also received a share of the $12,000,000 windfall thanks to a mother’s generosity.

Lindenhurst mom shares Maximum Millions prize with “the four people I love most”

Jan Graff, 63, of Lindenhurst buys scratch-off games fairly often. The mother of three said she usually buys her tickets directly from a store clerk, but after scratching three tickets in a row and ending up empty handed, the accounting professional decided a change in strategy was needed.

“I decided to buy tickets from the machine this time,” she laughed. Her new strategy faltered at first, leaving her disappointed for a fourth time. About to give up, Graff said a bit of divine intervention convinced her to try her luck one more time.

“I noticed that my last ticket was numbered 28. The number 27 is a special number to me because it is the year my father was born,” she said. That’s when she decided to buy one more ticket, a $20 Maximum Millions game.

“I didn’t scratch it, except for the barcode” she said. “It wasn’t until I saw ‘Big Winner’ that I scratched off the rest of the ticket, folded it up and drove straight home. I kept thinking to myself ‘please, don’t get into a car accident.’” 

Graff told her mother, who lives in Las Vegas for most of the year, and her three children about her win and her decision to share her $5,000,000 prize with the “four people I love the most.” Family members splitting the prize with Graff include her children Jason and Jessica Graf of Islip and Jodi Kszywanos of Stratford, CT as well as her mother, Barbara Laufman of Las Vegas, NV. Each family member will receive a one-time, lump sum payment totaling $661,800.

Graff said she always worried about providing for her children and now she “actually did it.” “My grandchildren are going to have college funds; we are all going to be secure,” she said. As for short-term plans, Graff said a family trip to the Dominican Republic to attend a family wedding are back on. “We weren’t all going to go, but now we are.”

Graff purchased her winning ticket at West Babylon C & G at 741 Sunrise Hwy. in West Babylon.

IRS employee plans many happy returns with Million Dollar Money Clip scratch-off prize

Sixty-seven-year-old Sheila Esposito of Lindenhurst won the $1,000,000 top prize on the Million Dollar Money Clip scratch-off game. The human resources specialist for the IRS said she had a run of good luck last month, which eventually led to her million dollar surprise.

 “I had $7 worth of winners that I wanted to trade in,” explained the mother of one and grandmother of two. “I turned in my winners and walked out with three more tickets. I scratched them all in the car in front of the restaurant where I was meeting my daughter for lunch. The first was a $25 winner. The next was a $10 winner. The last was the jackpot winner.”

 Esposito said she screamed at her daughter to get in the car when she arrived because she “needed someone else to look at it before I could believe it. The two of us just kept repeating, ‘It can’t be true. It can’t be true.’”

 Esposito opted to receive the cash value of her $1,000,000 prize, earning her a single payment of $760,000 (net $502,968).

 She said she has no plans for the money beyond making an appointment with her financial advisor. She bought her winning ticket at Anjli & Sarika on East Montauk Hwy. in Lindenhurst.

Traffic detour puts Melville man on the road to fate and fortune, For Life

Thomas Mainella, 62, of Melville recently claimed a top prize on the Set For Life scratch-off game, earning him a guaranteed minimum payout of $5,000,000. The self-employed electrician said he was coming back from a work site last December when a traffic detour took him through Plainview, an area he doesn’t frequent very often. Along the way, Mainella said he decided to pull over and try his luck instead of letting traffic try his patience. 

“I bought six Set For Life tickets. I just bought the last ticket in each row they had,” explained Mainella. “I’ve always told people I was going to win big on this game. They all thought I was crazy.” Mainella bought his tickets at Sunny Cards and Gifts on Old Country Rd. in Plainview.

Mainella, Suffolk County’s fifth Lottery millionaire of the new year, said he usually buys his tickets and waits to scratch them at a later time but with all the extra traffic outside, he decided to scratch all six tickets in the store.

“I didn’t win anything on the first two tickets. The third was a $100 winner and the fourth was a $50 winner. I scanned the fifth ticket and the ticket checker said ‘Sign Immediately’ so I scratched the whole thing and saw the ‘Life’ symbol. I freaked out. I screamed, jumped up and down – the whole thing.” Mainella said he had no luck on the sixth ticket he scratched.

The father of three grown children said he and his fiancée, Donna, had a plan in place for when he won the big one.

“I always told her I would send a limo to pick her up wherever she was if I won the Lottery. I called six different companies that day and no one could send a limo on such short notice so I called her at work and told her to come home right away.” He said he greeted her at the door and asked, “Do you believe in me?” After she said yes, he continued, “You’re gonna be happy for the rest of your life.”

Mainella will receive his guaranteed $5,000,000 prize in 20 annual installments. Once the minimum has been met, he will continue to receive an annual check totaling $260,000 (net $172,068) for life. He plans to use the money to supplement his retirement and plan for his wedding.

 Cold streak ends with Holtsville man’s $1,000,000 win on Black Diamond Riches

Fifty-four-year-old tire warehouse manager Glenn Sternkopf of Holtsville bought his jackpot-winning Black Diamond Riches scratch-off ticket last month on the way home from Sunday breakfast with his wife of 34 years, Rae. Sternkopf said he started playing the Black Diamond Riches ticket when it came out last June because he liked the way it looked.

“At first I had good luck with the game but then I hit a bit of a cold streak so I stopped playing for a while,” explained the father of two. I walked into the store that Sunday with a couple of winners and said to myself ‘Hey, let’s see what happens.’” Sternkopf bought his ticket at the Super Deli Foodmart at 305 Waverly Ave., in Patchogue.

He scratched the ticket in his truck outside the store and realized he won when he saw a match on the number 29 on the top and bottom portion of his ticket. He said he remained pretty calm “but I had to say to my wife, ‘Don’t have a heart attack on me now!’” Rae said she doesn’t remember anything other than “shaking really bad. The whole day was a blur.”

Sternkopf chose to receive his $1,000,000 prize in one lump sum payment in the amount of $830,000 (net $549,294). As for his plans for the money, Glenn said he wants “to be smart with it.” He said the one splurge may be a “really good vacation, maybe to Hawaii to do some fishing.”

The New York Lottery contributed $219,832,350.09 in Lottery Aid To Education to school districts throughout Suffolk County during fiscal year 2012-2013.

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.