Results tagged “megamillions”

The Bronx's Jimmy Groves came forward yesterday to hold his Mega Millions press conference, his first public appearance since winning $168 million in the big drawing a few weeks back. After reports of Groves boozing up and bumming out fearing the downsides of his big paycheck, yesterday he was all smiles, telling of his big first meal as New York's biggest jackpot winner ever (a hamburger) and about his mom rushing up from Tennessee once she heard. The self-described "homebody" has retired from his job stacking chairs at MSG and said he wants to buy a home with a yard, possibly in the Bronx or Harlem or "places in Brooklyn that are having a resurgence." He said, "I went to Germany. I came back, and New York is the only place for me right now." Like 96% of ticket buyers, Groves said he always chooses the lump sum option, but switched to the annuity on the winning ticket "because it might bring a change of luck." The 49-year-old grandfather tried to downplay his newfound status saying, "I still got to pay my rent, I still got to pay my lights and gas. I'm still just a regular Joe like everybody else. It's just that I got lucky."

The Harlem Mega Millions winner who said that winning the $168 million has turned his life into hell is apparently eager to continue spreading the word and allowing people around him to share in the collective nightmare. A Fordham bodega owner near the one where Groves bought the winning ticket two weeks ago says he came in to buy a six-pack of Heineken and began bragging of the winnings and the fact that he was "not working anymore in my life!" The store owner who encountered Groves tells the Post, "I didn't believe him, because what would a millionaire be doing coming in here and buying candy and beer?" When Groves first revealed himself to be the winner after laying low for a couple weeks, he said, "It's a dream turned into a nightmare. Winning is the beginning. Living with it is pure hell." But now he seems to be in better spirits; the News talks to a liquor store owner in his neighborhood who said, "He came in and bought a bottle of Hennessy yesterday. He was so happy." The Harlem man says he doesn't plan on abandoning his regular spots because "I got my McDonald's and White Castle near me."

The mysterious man who won half of the giant Mega Millions jackpot a couple weeks back when he bought his ticket at a Bronx bodega has finally come forward—and now he might wish that he had kept quiet about it. 49-year-old Jimmy Groves of Harlem gave the Post the usual "I'm going to Disney World" quote, but also revealed a darker side of letting people know about his newfound $168 million. Groves says that his "family is in a position of jeopardy" and has been receiving 40 calls a day from people hitting him up for a hand-out. He tells the paper, "I wake up every morning, and everyone is on me like stink on shit. I know people say, 'Give me that hell.' Be careful what you wish for — you just might get it." Groves may have wished for a little too much attention himself—he was seen last week "toting a store sign bearing the lottery prize amount." He'll be toting an even bigger sign with it soon when the lottery officials confirm that Groves won and throw him a press conference to present one of those snazzy giant checks. The Post says Groves has already quit his job stacking chairs overnight at Madison Square Garden and just this year had defaulted on a credit card.

While there's still no word on just who was lucky enough to pick up the winning ticket to Friday night's $333 million Mega Millions jackpot in the Bronx (one of two winning tickets), lottery officials did reveal just where it was printed. Fordham Grocery and Convenience Store on Fordham Road will receive a $10,000 prize for selling to the winner, but the only detail they know is that it was a Quick Pick ticket. Store owner Michael Patel said that he sold over 2,000 tickets in the days leading up to the drawing and had his suspicions that the lucky winner may have been a man who bought 200 tickets Friday night. Maybe he's laying low just as MTA worker Aubrey Bryce did for three weeks when he won Mega Millions last month. Patel and his son Bhavesh posed posed for the News with a handwritten sign reading "Winner!! Mega Million Jackpot $166 million here!!" (Take some pride, fellas—round UP.) One local who shops at the store told NY1, "I'm really, really happy. It happened right here at my spot on my block where I play all the time. It could have been me, so God bless them. I won $10, so I'm grateful."

The multi-state lottery drawing, Mega Millions, was up to $333 million when last night's drawing occurred—and one of the two winning tickets was sold in the Bronx! The winning numbers: 1-17-31-37-54, and the Mega Ball number was 31. The Daily News reports, "After taxes, the cash payout is estimated at $210.4 million. If no winners emerge, the jackpot will go up to $430 million - the largest lottery payout ever." Lottery ticket sellers wouldn't mind, as bigger jackpots mean more sales; a Lower East Side bodega owner said, "Some people buy $20 and $50 worth of tickets. One guy bought $100 worth today." And Newsday reveals, "Three New Yorkers, including one in Queens and one in the Bronx, hit for the second prize, worth $250,000. They had all five numbers correct, but failed to hit the Mega ball." Late last month, MTA worker Aubrey Boyce revealed he won the July 7 Mega Millions jackpot (he took a $55 million cash lump sum from the $133 million total) three weeks after the drawing.

Former MTA worker (he already quit!) and new multimillionaire Aubrey Boyce would probably like to take his lotto winnings and buy a new name. The Queens resident finally picked up his $133 million from the Mega Millions folks at Grand Central yesterday—a nearly $55 million (post tax) lump sum payment—on a giant check made out to the mysterious "Archibald Trust" (a fund Boyce created and appointed himself trustee of).

Guess you can't just win millions upon millions of dollars and expect to keep a secret. The mystery man or woman behind the winning Mega Millions ticket is unveiling him or herself today and picking up the winning July 7th pot. The ticket, purchased in Jamaica, Queens, was the only one to have all 6 matching numbers, giving the winner the entire $133 million payout. The NY Post reports that the winner "will get a lump-sum check for nearly $83 million, before taxes, from New York lottery officials at Grand Central Terminal." The employees at Shiv Convenience, where the winning ticket was printed out, are anxious to find out which of their customers has been keeping their fortune a secret. Store manager Bharat Patel said, "It's going to be a surprise. But I'll know the person as soon as I see them." The store also gets a $10,000 bonus for selling the ticket. If this story is giving you lottery fever, tonight's Mega Millions jackpot is $60 million—if you win that's a $2,307,692 annual, or $35,210,000 lump-sum payout. Decisions decisions. UPDATE: The Daily News reports the winner is 49-year-old MTA worker Aubrey Boyce, who works (worked?!) as a collections agent making around $50K a year. He'll take home the lump-sum of $56.7 million after taxes.

If you're in Queens, start watching the sidewalk for stray lottery tickets! The Daily News reports that the person who purchased the winning Mega Millions ticket at the Shiz Convenience Store on Hillside Avenue, has yet to come forward and cash in the $133 million golden ticket. The paper notes that there was only one ticket that matched all six numbers in last night's drawing, and the winner had the computer pick the numbers. This Friday the jackpot is down to $12 million—have you been playing more during the recent economic downturn in an effort to bail yourself out?

NY State Lottery officials are hoping to join the big 32-state lottery, Powerball, in hopes of generating more state revenue. Right now, Powerball is available only in neighboring states like Connecticut and Pennsylvania, so when there's a big jackpot, New Yorkers head out of state to buy tickets. Currently, NY is already part of the 12-state MegaMillions lottery, and Lottery spokesman Jennfier Givner told the Daily News that officials think both games will do well, "People are really attracted to the larger jackpots. With all the states involved, you get these exciting large rollups and huge jackpots that people are interested in and drive sales." It would take 6-12 months to get the game rolling and state thinks it could make $11 million in the first year and another $21 million in later years. However, State Senator Frank Padavan (R-Queens) said another lottery game is a terrible idea, snarking, "Given they are already costing the average family another $4,000 and $5,000 a year, it seems reasonable for them to figure out another way to pull money out of the back pockets of the people who can least afford it."

For Isabel Zelaya, all it took was $3, a dream, and ignoring Friday the 13th superstitions—and he won $26 million in the Mega Millions lottery. Zelaya, an immigrant from El Salvador, said his friends told him not to play the March 13 lottery, but he always buys lottery tickets on Friday and did so. He opted for the lump-sum payment of $17,716,535, which will bring him just over $12 million after taxes. Zelaya told Newsday that he quit his night shift job at a graphics company and plans on funding college educations for his children, giving money to his sister, moving and many more things, "I know I don't want to go back to work in the factory."

When the winning numbers of the $216 million Mega Millions lottery were announced, it turned out the winning ticket was purchased at a Toms River, NJ gas station. And the purchaser of the winning ticket? Bob Space, a Chubb Insurance employee, who bought $50 of tickets on behalf of the office pool—and who was filling in for the co-worker usually in charge of the lottery run (because that co-worker was on a business trip).

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a 4-alarm brush fire on Staten Island, a missing child report at 3rd Ave. and East 117th St. in Manhattan, and a stabbing on Boston Road in the Bronx.
• Finding parking in NYC requires a guide. Here it is (garage parking only). Street parkers must continue to survive on guile, cunning, and skill.
• The winning $105 million Mega Millions lottery ticket was sold at at The Magazine Store on 31st Street in Astoria, Queens. The winning numbers are 24, 32, 34, 36, and 39, with the Powerball number 6. Now go check your pockets.

There was finally a winner in the 12-state Mega Millions lottery. Actually, there are at least two winners that will split the $370 million payout. Alas, the winning tickets were not sold in New York, but in Cape May County in Southern Jersey and in Georgia. It's still possible that there are other winners as final results from California aren't available yet. The Mega Millions website says the delay is due to the "unprecedented number" of tickets sold. If you haven't checked your tickets yet, the winning numbers were 16-22-29-39-42 with a Mega Ball of 20.

People are going Mega Millions crazy! That's why the estimated jackpot for tonight's Mega Millions jackpot is now $370 million. That's up from an estimate of $340 million on Sunday and $355 million just yesterday! The odds of winning the jackpot is listed as 1 in 176 million.

Did you try your luck at the $275 million Mega Millions jackpot last night? Lots of New Yorkers did, but you certainly didn't match all the numbers because no tickets matched the winning combination of 14-21-33-35-51 and the Mega Ball of 43. You know what that means? The estimated jackpot on Tuesday will be a whopping $340 million. That's almost enough to make Gothamist take a stab at winning!

When we were little our parents would often tell us the same terrifying bedtime story: An old woman walks into a lawyers office demanding that they help her sue the criminals who have taken away all of her savings. The concerned lawyer asks the woman who could have done this to her so that he can help. She explains that she spent every one of her pennies on the Lotto because she had to win big sometime, right? But that now she is penniless and pension-less. The lawyer sighs, and sadly informs the poor woman that unfortunately no criminal activity had occurred as the people who took all of her money was her very own Government and that they were allowed by the citizens of New York to start a lottery, for good or bad, way back in 1966.

- The NY Times takes a long look at NYPD Comissioner Ray Kelly. He has a hard record to live up to - his own.