Lindenhurst, NY - May 11, 2016 - Recently engaged Bruce Magistro of Lindenhurst remembers thinking, “This is impossible,” as he revealed the third matching symbol he needed to win a guaranteed $1,000,000 top prize on a Win $1,000 A Week For Life scratch-off game.
Magistro, already a New York Lottery millionaire from his first scratch-off win in 2012, said winning a million dollars feels just as dreamlike the second time around.
“I started scratching the ticket and I saw one Life symbol and then the second and I thought, ‘This is impossible.’ I saw the third life and even I couldn’t believe it.”
In 2012, the Lottery’s Yolanda Vega presented the now-48-year-old carpenter with his first over-sized prize check following his jackpot win on the retired Extreme Cash game. The repeat winner said he remembers the day vividly.
“At my last event, Yolanda Vega told me there was always a chance I could win again. I took her words to heart,” said Magistro.
Winners of New York’s Win $1,000 A Week For Life scratch-off game are guaranteed a minimum payout of $1,000,000. With the annuity option, Magistro would receive the guaranteed $1,000,000 in 20 annual payments and additional annual prize payments thereafter, for life. Magistro’s other option is taking the cash value of the $1,000,000 prize - $797,160 (net $527,560) - in a single lump-sum payment.
Magistro, a widower, said he planned to share his good fortune with family and “enjoy life” with his fiancé.
The New York Lottery contributed $245,288,826.79 in Lottery Aid To Education to school districts throughout Suffolk County during fiscal year 2015-2016.
About the New York Lottery
The New York Lottery continues to be North America’s largest and most profitable Lottery, contributing $3.30 billion in fiscal year 2015-2016 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.