New York Lottery Commissioner says event is infrequent
By Kate Northrop
YONKERS, N.Y. — One lottery retailer in New York sold three $1 million winning tickets for a single Powerball drawing, an occurrence that the New York Lottery says is infrequent.
There were three winning Powerball tickets for the second-tier prize in a drawing last week, and all three came from the same store in New York.
On Tuesday last week, the New York Lottery announced that there were three second-tier prize-winning tickets sold at the same spot for the Oct. 20 Powerball drawing. V&C Taneja on Nepperhan Avenue in Yonkers had sold all three tickets that won $1 million that night in the nation that night.
V&C Taneja is a convenience store attached to a BP gas station, and employees are saying that more players are frequenting the store in hopes that they can capture a bit of that luck as well.
"They all know this is the lucky spot," store manager Shahid Shah, 54, told The New York Post on Thursday. "This is the first time I ever see it like this. Everyone is coming by and buying Powerball tickets in the morning."
Locals have been asking questions about who the lucky winners are or whether it was just one winner buying three separate tickets, Shah explained.
"Just everyone coming in buying Powerball tickets," he continued. "All of them asking me, 'Who's the winner, who's the winner?' They all want to know who won."
Lottery winners in New York technically can't claim prizes anonymously, but there have been some players who have created an LLC to collect their winnings without revealing their name.
New York State Gaming Commission spokesman Lee Park told The Post that the identity of the ticketholder, or ticketholders, is unknown since none of the three $1 million winning tickets have been claimed yet. No one has stepped forward to validate them.
"While multiple winning tickets of a million dollars or more purchased at a single location is indeed infrequent, good luck is certainly not unprecedented in the Empire State," Park said to the outlet.
It's possible that the three tickets were all purchased by one player who was playing a favorite set of numbers multiple times, Park added.
New York Lottery officials did not know whether this happenstance had ever occurred before at any other store.
Journalists stopped customers in the store to ask them if the news of the triple win had reached their ears. Some players said that they specifically came out to the store to play just for that reason.
"I drove here all the way from Throgs Neck in the Bronx," 56-year-old restaurant worker Edgar Gonzalez said in an interview. "My wife told me, because I've got good luck, she says, go there and play. So I came here because I'm going for the big prize."
"I saw it on TV," Bronx resident and grocery store employee Wilton Soto, 35, remarked. "That was here? Maybe this is the lucky spot. I got to come here all the time now."
Other customers were just finding out about it on the spot.
"This place sold three-million-dollar winners on Monday?" Bronx resident and rental car business owner Xavier Santana, 35, asked the cashier behind the counter. "Yo, give me a quick pick. Yeah I'll take that cash for life. How much are they? Yeah, give me $10!"
Whoever owns the three winning tickets has until Oct. 19, 2026 to collect the prizes. Winners in New York have one year from the draw date to claim lottery winnings.
The three $1 million winning tickets matched all five white ball numbers in the Oct. 20, 2025 Powerball drawing — 32, 38, 66, 67, and 69 — but missed red Powerball number 19 to hit the $304.7 million jackpot.
The next Powerball annuity jackpot estimate for the drawing on Monday, Oct. 27 currently stands at $358 million.
Powerball is currently offered for sale in 45 states, plus Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Drawings are Mondays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays at 10:59 p.m. Eastern Time. Tickets cost $2 each.
Powerball lottery results are published within minutes of the drawing at USA Mega (www.usamega.com). The USA Mega website provides lottery players in-depth information about the United States' two biggest multi-state lottery games, Mega Millions and Powerball.
I did this a few times accidentally, with my wife and I playing the same numbers when the other did not know, or getting a couple play slips mixed up with the same picks in a small stack, also by accident. Congrats to the three time winner!!! I think it is highly unlikely it was three separate winners.
I'm sure the lottery already looked at the stores security cameras along with ticket print times to know if it was only one person or not. Not sure if New York has vending lotto machines, but I had a issue once with a Michigan Lottery vending machine and customer support looked up the transaction from the last 4 digits of my debit card. The Lottery knows but there not going to give that info out for security reasons.
Nah...it's not rigged...lol
It very well could have been someone who played the same 5 numbers with 3 different powerballs
* Sure hope they hung onto their tickets.
"I think it is highly unlikely it was three separate winners. "
As above, the lottery already knows if all 3 wins were on a single ticket, multiple tickets played together or in a short time span, or 3 (or more) tickets played over a longer timespan. Since there was nothing special about the winning numbers even having 3 winners in the entire state would have been unlikely. The chance of 3 randomly chosen tickets at a single retailer is basically zero.
"It very well could have been someone who played the same 5 numbers with 3 different powerballs "
Either that or somebody who played the same 5 numbers with the same power ball for some reason. I once had a clerk who though he knew how to print 1 ticket for each of the next 3 drawings print 3 identical tickets for one drawing. I don't know who ended up with those tickets but it wasn't me. We all know that some people do buy mistakes, so maybe that's how it happened. It's also possible that there are 3 different winners because the initial buyer refused 3 duplicates that were later sold.
First of all congratulations.
Looking @ PB website when it said three NY winners said hopefully not Manhattan where they add another tax to your winnings. Go Yonkers!!
Most likely.
🥲
Very true but the question I have is did they buy three separate tickets using the same betslip for each purchase, or did they purchase three lines on one ticket using one betslip?
As for me, I use one betslip to play five identical lines of five numbers on one PB ticket, with a different PB on each line. I also add the Powerplay option.
The article states "There were three winning Powerball tickets for the second-tier prize in a drawing last week, and all three came from the same store in New York." The article doesn't say who said that. If The NY lottery said it, then it's my guess that the player very likely bought three separate tickets. Each ticket would have the same first five numbers as the other two.
When I lived in New York I used to buy five identical PB lines using one betslip. (PowerPlay option added) I received one ticket. I often wondered if anybody else had done what I was doing. I live in Florida now, and when I play PB I still do it. It's conceivable that I could win 10 million dollars doing that. G5
While it is unusual, people buying multple identical lines isn't all that uncommon. We don't hear about all the times that it was done but it didn't produce a jackpot winner. We only hear about it when it wins big.
In New York City, especially Brooklyn, many savvy players buy multiple tickets with the same set of numbers. They do it a lot with Take5 to reduce the pari-muteul aspect of the game. Many times I've read the "Top Prize Winners" report published on The NY Lottery website that showed someone winning 80% of a jackpot with four jackpot winning lines. Another poor sole was listed that won 20% of it with a fifth line. Had the savvy player not bought four lines the split would have been 50/50.
I also saw it once with New Yorks now retired Sweet Millions game which was NOT pari-muteul. A guy played the same line of six numbers three times and won three million bucks.
A guy in Massachusetts won MASS Cash ten times in one drawing by buying ten tickets using the same betslip for each ticket he purchased. As I recall he won a total of one million dollars. G5
I went back an re-read the article......
"New York State Gaming Commission spokesman Lee Park told The Post that the identity of the ticketholder, or ticketholders, is unknown since none of the three $1 million winning tickets have been claimed yet."
So there's the answer to my question. G5
California had 4 winners once, but not at the same store. More realistic. We need that to happen more
"Lottery winners in New York technically can't claim prizes anonymously, but there have been some players who have created an LLC to collect their winnings without revealing their name."
There's hidden beauty in this whole thing. The player won't even need to create an LLC to protect their anonymity.... and if they're super smart, other than the NY Lottery, it's very possible that nobody will ever know who the winner is/was.
This was a SECOND TIER win, not a jackpot win. That means the winners name won't appear on any report of jackpot winners published by the NY Lottery. On that report, they publish JACKPOT winners names, but not lower tier winners.
If the winner waits for a couple of months to pass, and then cashes in their tickets, chances are the whole thing will have been forgotten by most.
The only way the NY Lottery will reveal the winners name is if they receive a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request. IMHO nobody will ever submit one. I doubt the media would either. G5