Lottery lightning can strike twice.
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Although Magistro has been spending some of his winnings on buying lottery tickets, he appears to be taking a break from the game – or at least not buying at the store where he just hit gold.
He spent his winnings on his wife’s healthcare in what he described as being a “tough time in my life”. “The money, it let me stay home with [her]”, the Lindenhurst construction foreman told The Post on Tuesday.
‘Hopefully I’ll win again, ‘ he joked.
‘We were standing there the last time.
Magistro can either opt to receive the guaranteed amount in 20 annual payments and additional annual prize payments thereafter, for life, or he can take a single lump-sum payment of nearly $800,000.
The check will be presented Wednesday morning – again, by Vega.
Magistro was reunited with Lottery check presenter Yolanda Vega.
“I couldn’t believe that I won”, said Bruce Magistro, 48, who bought the new winning “A Week for Life” ducat at Mike’s Super Citgo in West Babylon, L.I. “This is the first time one of my customers won a million dollars”.
“She passed away two years ago today”, Magistro’s son, Nick Mayers, said Wednesday. “I think there is some kind of divine intervention here, ” he said.
He added that he’ll continue playing the lottery and chasing a third win.
State gaming officials said the odds of someone winning the Win for Life grand prize – or $1,000 per week for life – are 1 in 7,745,600.
Magistro has two options, choosing the annuity option or taking the cash value of the $1,000,000 prize.
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Philip Protter, a professor of statistics at Columbia University, said the odds of Magistro winning the two games were around 1 in 2 billion.
