It was a lucky '13 for five $1 million New York lottery winners.
The newly flush quintet came forward Friday to collect its winnings, with the checks expected to arrive just in time for 2014, state lottery officials said.
Three hailed from New York City and two from Long Island, and all took a lump sum payout after taxes.
The winners included Long Island landscaper Marvin Rosales-Martinez, who found the answer to his fiscal prayers was blowing in the wind.
The 27-year-old Hicksville man was raking leaves in October 2012 when he spied a dampened "Win for Life" ticket floating on the breeze.
When the ticket came to earth in a pile of leaves and lawn clippings, Rosales-Martinez made his move.
"It was all wet, and I took it home and I dried it," he recounted. "When I found out I had won, I felt very lucky. I felt very happy."
But the landscaper had a long wait to cash in on his good fortune. Lottery officials conducted a yearlong investigation to ensure the winning ticket was legit and no one else tried to claim it as theirs.
"It's a lot of money," said the Spanish-speaking Rosales-Martinez through an interpreter. "I'm going to help my family, buy a bunch of little gifts and invest some of it."
Keith Robinson, 55, matched his winning Mega Millions numbers while reading the newpaper. The five winning digits led to a $623,040 payoff for the Harlem man.
Queens resident Karlene Zephirin was one day away from unemployment when she scored with a Powerball ticket. She bought the lucky ticket at a 7-Eleven near her job.
"When I went into work, my friend said someone at the 7-Eleven won and I should check my ticket," said Zephirin, 44. "But I didn't think anything of it."
When Zephirin finally checked at lunch, "I was shocked," she recalled. "I couldn't believe it. I was in shock. I'm still in shock."
The other two big winners were identified as Nathan Wilson, 55, of Staten Island, and Isai Cortez, 53, of Bay Shore, L.I.
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¡Que se rastrilla en!
That is raking it in!
When it's YOUR TIME, it can show up ANYWHERE!!! And to think that people frowned on the idea of my friends and I exploring TRASH CANS with GLOVES ON to find possible big winning tickets like the DUMPSTER DIVER did last year I think. I guess no one really believes in the SEEK AND YE SHALL FIND deal!! My buddy's son worked at a Shell station during that time, and before he left for a better job, he had found a total of $145 in winning tickets that were simply overlooked, misread, and tossed away. Call it what you want, but he came out ahead on the scratch-offs with no money spent whatsoever.
L.L.
I'd be interested to know if the lottery officials are in any way obligated to look into or investigate who really bought the ticket like they did in Iowa when that New York lawyer tried to claim a large prize there on the last day.
I wonder if they looked at any video and if they did, would they be obligated to publicize the video to try to find the original buyer of the ticket?
I'm not advocating for either side but "Bearer Instrument" seems to mean different things in different states.
One of my best friends lives in Hicksville... Whoever bears the ticket wins. Congrats to him and family!
Good for him I love it when people like him win. He obviously deserved to win it
So far as it is not another store clerk, or relatives, ripping off customers and claiming they found it in the dumpster {their back pockets}.
Guess I'll rake leaves more often, congrats to the winner.
lol...Is this the onion?
I am thinking the same thing.....his buddy is a store clerk and told the customer the ticket was not a winner. The clerk kept the ticket and gave it to this man and both are laughing all the way to the bank . Sounds reasonable to me.
The guy that mowed my yard last year said he found $100.00 bill in my yard
I GOT A NEW YARD GUY!
The ticket probably fell out of Julios pocket, then Hectors, then Pedros, then Caesars until Martinez was smart enough to turn it in.They will rip each other off in a heartbeat.
From what legal info I have read, a "Bearer Instrument" assumes whoever possesses the item is the owner of the item. The assumption can be challenged under some circumstances (example: someone steals it and if the theft can be proven in court then that trumps the Bearer claim).
Most lotteries will do some investigation of a winning claim over $10,000. On major wins, they will do more in-depth investigation before paying out a claim. One thing that the lottery is selling on is trust and that if you buy a ticket and win you will get the winnings. Paying out to someone not legally entitled to the winnings dilutes that trust. It is in the lottery's best interest to investigate large claims.
One thing about buying tickets in today's world: just about every place that sells tickets has recorded video surveillance. That coupled with time stamps of the video and the moment when a ticket was sold would mean every winning ticket purchaser could be identified by a video somewhere...
I still cannot understand how people lose tickets. But like the old saying says "Finders Keepers and loosers weepers" .
after reading all these stories, I am starting to think I will FIND a Jackpot win before I play and win one. LOL
I also am skeptical....something stinks in Denmark....
Anyone read this and still doubt the existence of the Lottery Faerie?
It's not like the guy who really brought the ticket lost a million dollars, he just lost a ticket which to him was only the cost of the ticket as most.
Players lose lottery tickets every day and never give them much thought or else they would check them as soon as possible after buying them.
Chances are if they checked where it was bought and published the information, hundreds of people would have come forward claiming they remember being in that store and buying a similar ticket probably more than the store actually sold and nobody could have claimed the money.
This is a snowflakes fairy. The lottery fairy is actually the back pocket of a store clerk.
Yep, it's a fact that lots of scratch ticket winners get thrown away.(in the trash or on the sidewalk) Mostly low tier prizes and small ticket value wins.
Many people on LP admitted to have done it.(dumpster digging) I've seen it done, and know of people that play lottery only with free found money from thrown away Scratchers.
But the game features that make it easy to throw away small winners also seems to be there for top prizes. It works out in favor of the lottery if people throw away winners: the game ends up being more profitable.
Seems very likely with this NY Win for Life $2 scratch game, easy to misunderstand how it is won.
Makes ya think twice about signing the back of your ticket as soon as you get it...... tickets get lost or stolen all the time but once it's signed you are the rightful owner of that ticket.
Recently a player in the 5 million dollar scratch game in California found out only when he was rejected for the second chance draw. The ticket was in his trash can for days prior to his second chance attempt.
I know in California they have a scan code to check your own scratchers, to double check if they won. Is it the same every where?
I see alot of refrences to the clerks stealing. I find it hard to beileve they can't see the clerk terminal checked the winning ticket. They know when a terminal activates the pack and when they redeem winners. I'm sure they know when a claim form ticket was checked. I believe it can print something in California for the customer.
Hmmm..something doesn't add up here is what I'm thinking.
2012 he was raking leaves? Is THAT what I read...then 2013 he turns in the ticket. 27 years old...a wet, dirty old ticket
in the leaves on the job...he takes it home, dries it out and finds out it's worth a million dollars? I've seen wet dirty tickets
in the parking lot of many places. I don't take them home to dry them off and see if they are winners, I assume they
are there for a reason, they're losers and trash that didn't find its way to the trash can.
The odds of finding a top prize are slim..but in a pile of leaves must be the absolute worst odds in the world -
most likely worse than MM or PB odds.
Off to read the story again...I must've missed something.
Ohio has something similar where the terminal will hollow out "WINNER" three times and if the clerks run the online ticket through the terminal it will print something on it too but all those features can be bypassed.
I once asked a manager while his clerks didn't use those features and he said they took too much time and he instructed his clerks to just flash the tickets in front of the scanner and tell the customers the results. Now I only buy gas at his place and buy lottery tickets else where.
Until clerks are totally removed from the routine of buying and checking lottery tickets, there will always be some slick crooked clerks thinking they can get away with steeling someones winning ticket.
Could have worked out in this case where the actual purchaser would have got the one million dollars and he/she could have tipped the guy raking the leaves a couple of bucks for his troubles.
Are you a clerk?
Raking in the big money
Good point Ranger!
What a way to start the New Year, I'm happy for the guy!
"...his buddy is a store clerk and told the customer the ticket was not a winner. The clerk kept the ticket and gave it to this man..."
If the guy legitimately found the ticket in the leaves like he said, I'm glad for him.
But I just have a funny feeling that pick4master's scenario above is closer to the truth.
We really need to automate everything the clerks do.
It's just too doggone easy to ripoff a lot of people who aren't as aware of the risks with crooked clerks as we are.
I bet if we knew the true frequency of these crimes taking place and the amount of the money stolen it would be jaw-dropping.
I had somebody try to pull one on me today.
I went to a drive-up window at a place I've never been before to cash a ticket and after the clerk ran the ticket, she came back and asked me what I thought I won. Heh,heh,heh,heh,heh... I wonder how many people fall for that line?
I said "I know what I won, what does the machine say?"
She looked somewhat taken aback and said "12 bucks."
I said "that's right" and stuck my hand out and she went back to the register and got my money.
You can imagine what would happen though if someone doesn't know what they won.
I don't trust a clerk any further than I can throw 'em.
I think the problem of less then honest clerks here in Indiana has been greatly reduced given hoosier lottery provides scanners in all stores for customers to scan their own tickets. I use it to double check my tickets before tossing them and to double check my winning tickets before turning them in. I think the clerks know the odds of a customer not knowing what their ticket is worth is very slim given. Since they put the scanners in place, i have not seen one person ask a clerk to check their ticket for them
Also if they tell you the scanner is broke just unplug it from the back and plug it back in it will work fine
i do it everyday
omg! That was good
wow, lucky and unlucky yard guy
We have the self-serve ticket scanners here in CA in all the stores I've been to. But sometimes you find places where they are not working.(don't know if the clerk did that on purpose) Never thought to try and reboot the sucker myself.
You rock!
P.S. They had the NY Rosales-Martinez story on the local news here. Must be a slow news day...
You've got it right. "Bearer Instrument" is a financial term that means the same thing in all 50 states, which is simply that ownership isn't recorded as it is with registered instruments, though it looks to me like not all lotteries understand or follow the law.
The NY lottery should know where that ticket was sold and they should have a pretty good idea of when it was sold. They apparently made some effort to locate any reports of a lost or stolen ticket, and waited to see if anyone else would come forward to claim it, but if they actually attempted to use their own records to locate the original purchaser they don't seem inclined to publicize it. I'd be especially curious to know if they contacted the owner of the property where the ticket was found, or nearby property owners.
As a practical matter, I expect everyone but an original owner will simply treat it as if he had found a $5 bill on the sidewalk, but ignoring some exceptions that don't apply to this case, the relevant NY laws says "any person who finds an instrument or comes into possession of an instrument with knowledge that it has been found shall, within ten days after the finding or acquisition of possession thereof, either return it to a person entitled thereto or report the finding or acquisition of possession and deposit the instrument in a police station or police headquarters, as provided in subdivision one of this section, as if such instrument were lost property having a value of ten dollars or more."
That Martinez obviously didn't do that could potentially be a problem if somebody comes forward as a result of the news stories. Of course anyone trying to prove they're the rightful owner is going to have a real problem unless they can document an effort to locate and recover the ticket. Assuming the ticket wasn't scratched when Martinez found it then the original owner wouldn't have known its value and probably wouldn't have made any real effort to recover it.
You missed the part where he submitted his claim in 2012, not very long after finding the ticket.
Guess I'll be raking leaves lol
Congratulation to all the winners.
What happened here is this guy walked into the lottery and told them upfront that he found the ticket. If someone states that, i would think there would be laws in place that allow time for the rightful owner to appear as happened here. Had he just signed it and turned it in and said nothing, it would have be a done deal because the lottery recognizes the signature as the rightful owner of that ticket.
Very well said Candlelight7777.
Had he just signed it and turned it in and said nothing, it would have be a done deal because the lottery recognizes the signature as the rightful owner of that ticket.
I was in Resorts World on Friday 12/27/2013 when the winners were presented their checks from NY Lottery Rep Yolanda Vega. All the news stations were present and this particular guys story was as Yolanda interpreted for him was that he was hired to clean up the yard in LI after hurricane Sandy. He was raking the leaves found the ticket and brought it home to dry. It was a winner, already scratched and in horrible condition. It couldn't be verified at the local store so he went to the NY Lottery customer service. He possessed the winning ticket. As with all big jackpots the NY lottery did an investigation. They allowed time for the investigation and to see if anyone came forward. When no one else came forward with a story saying they were ripped off they pronounced him the sole winner of the prize. He stood there in shock holding the oversized cardboard check and looked like he couldn't wait to get out of there! Best of luck to all of the winners...............and if you buy a ticket at least check it carefully. I suspect the original winner never thought they would get LIFE three times and was too busy looking for a big $2500 prize. Just my opinion.
Already scratched showing winner? Hmmm... there were about 50 deaths in NY from Sandy. Perhaps the original purchaser knew he had a winner, but died in the storm, and the ticket was washed/blown away.
R.I.P.
I forgot to mention, the owner of the home, who survived Sandy, was asked about the ticket from the Lottery and they never purchased it. With all the hurricane winds it must have blown with the rest of the trash and leaves.
And by the way...all you New Yorkers..Yolanda Vega is very beuatiful. I hope to someday meet her when I win my big jackpot
I can't even find one dollar when I rake the leaves!
Congratulations to him. This turned out to be a nice story.
Well all I can say is congratulations to the five of them. Someday I will be one of the few who won a million dollars in the lottery. That day will come I just know it, it won't take long.