Man plays Madoff's prison number and wins $1,500

Tue Mar 24, 9:00 PM EDT

AP-Wall Street swindler Bernard Madoff is a lucky charm for one New York City construction worker. Queens resident Ralph Amendolaro said he saw Madoff's prison number in a newspaper and had a good feeling so he played the last three digits of it in the state lottery's Numbers game. It hit March 15, paying $1,500.

Lottery officials say other people had the same idea. The number combination 0-5-4 produced 501 winning tickets the Sunday after Madoff's guilty plea, up from 120 winners the previous day.

Madoff's prison registration number is 61727-054.

A lottery spokeswoman says people often play numbers they see on the news.

So many people played the flight number of a jet that landed safely in the Hudson River that the lottery had to halt sales.