Winner takes nearly a year to claim prizes
By Kate Northrop
WEST HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. — A New York man defied the odds by winning a $1 million Mega Millions prize in the lottery — twice.
Marco Accardo of West Hempstead claimed not one, but two $1 million Mega Millions prizes from a drawing that took place over an entire year ago.
It was starting to look like a nailbiter — Accardo had taken nearly a full year to come forward to claim the prizes from a drawing that took place last year on Nov. 1, 2022. Lottery winners of draw games in New York have one year from the draw date to claim prizes.
He bought two tickets at Bolla 820 Hempstead C-Store on Hempstead Avenue in West Hempstead, but they were not completely identical. Both tickets held the first five winning numbers — 5, 9, 15, 16, and 17 — but two different Mega Ball numbers.
The winning Mega Ball number in that drawing was 25. Had one of those two tickets matched that final Mega Ball number, he would have won the jackpot that was worth $87 million at the time.
Accardo opted to receive the lump sum payout for both tickets, $651,000 each after taxes, amounting to a grand total of $1.302 million.
The Mega Millions jackpot currently stands at $395 million for the next drawing on Fri., Dec. 8 at 11:00 pm Eastern Time.
Mega Millions is currently offered for sale in 45 states, plus Washington D.C. and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Drawings are Tuesdays and Fridays at 11:00 pm Eastern Time. Tickets cost $2 each.
The Mega Millions winning numbers are published at USA Mega (www.usamega.com) minutes after the drawing takes place.
That is a nail biter for sure. Imagine sitting on those tickets that long?
Strange that Puerto Rico still only sells Powerball and not MM.
November 11, 2022, Megaplier was 3x. If you love your set of five numbers but are less certain of the megaball and decide to play them more than once, why not play the megaplier? $4 got him $2,000,000; $3 would've got him $3,000,000. Congratulations.
CONGRATULATIONS
Why did he sit on those tickets so long is the story.
I agree 110% about spending that extra dollar for the multiplier.
I am assuming these tickets were not qps? If a store lottery random generator spit out the same 5 numbers twice, that is a story.
No, he had 4.00 in his hand and bought two sets of the same five with two different PB's. Common play actually. The fact that they offer the multiplier makes me wonder if it is viable over a long period of play.
"why not play the megaplier? "
The megaplier only increases the winnings of non-jackpot prizes, if you happen to win them. Spending that 4th $1 doubles your chances of winning the jackpot as well as any of the other n+1 prizes, and doubles any of the n+0 prizes (if you play the same 5 numbers).
Looks like that may have happened last night in California for Mega....the same retailer sold two winning jackpot tickets...??
I can't even win once