Hardhat wins $10M scratchoff he dreamed of

A QUEENS construction worker’s dream came true when he struck it rich with a winning scratchoff lottery ticket.

Imran Mohammed, 29, said he saw a $10,000 a Week for Life scratchoff ticket in a dream six months ago.

So he began to regularly play that $20 game.

About a month ago, it paid off when he bought a winning ticket at the M&S Smoke Shop in Jamaica, Queens.

“I was going to work and I stopped in the store before I got on the subway,” he recalled during a press conference Tuesday.

Despite his previous vision of riches, he was shocked when one of the tickets revealed the winning “life” symbol.

“I screamed,” he said. “I grabbed the clerk and I gave him a bear hug.”

At home, his stepfather suggested he take some deep breaths.

“I hid the ticket between two frying pans for two days” before claiming it, Mohammed said.

He chose to receive the cash value of the guaranteed $10 million prize, giving him $5,036,617 after taxes, lottery officials said.

The construction worker doesn’t plan to retire, but he’s definitely looking to spoil himself a little.

“I just plan on working a little less,” he said. “I plan to pay some personal debts off, buy a house, then buy a nice sports car. I just plan to go on with my life.”

He had some advice for millionaire wannabes.

“You gotta keep playing,” he said. “You gotta be in it to win it.” He wasn’t the only lucky winner announced Tuesday.

Leelawatie Pittam, 52, of Elmont in Nassau County, picked up her lucky ticket when she stopped by a gas station on her way home from her night shift job.

“I decided to get a few scratchoffs like always,” the loss-prevention officers for BJs Wholesale told reporters.

She bought four 50X the Money scratchoff tickets. They all came up empty.

But the last $10 ticket on the roll “just pulled my eyes and I was staring at it. It was calling me,” she recalled.

“I wasn’t expecting to win the jackpot,” she added. “But then I scratched it, I saw the letters and I screamed, ‘Hallelujah!’ ” “I probably gave someone in the store a heart attack,” she added.

Pittam, who works two other jobs, bought the ducat at the Mobil Mart on Hempstead Turnpike in Elmont chose a one-time lump sum payment totaling $1,568,466 after taxes.

“I plan to use the money to retire early,” she said, “and just continue living life.”

Pittam, who plays the lottery every day, said, “I’m feeling joy.”

“It feels amazing for someone like me who works three jobs. Now I have more time to be with my grandkids. That’s all that I want,” she added.

Pittam was equally excited to meet Yolanda Vega, the lottery official who hands winners their oversized checks.

“I was hoping she would show up,” she said. “I’ve wanted to meet her my whole life.”