Mega Millions smiles
NJ staffers thrilled to sell $521M jackpot
A new resident is coming to Easy Street.
The mystery multimillionaire had yet to emerge Saturday after lottery officials announced the winning ticket to a $521 million jackpot was sold at a Lukoil gas station in Riverdale, NJ, about 30 miles from the city.
The winning numbers in Friday’s Mega Millions drawing were 11, 28, 31, 46, 59 and Mega Ball 1.
“It’s amazing, absolutely amazing. We’re hoping it’s one of our regulars,” said giddy store employee Nancy Levan, 48. “We have a lot of blue-collar workers that could really use the money.”
Levan said the station on Route 23 South in Morris County “has the magic touch,” recalling a winning $200,000 scratch-off ticket sold there in 2015.
Levan regularly buys lotto tickets at the station, but didn’t strike it big this time.
“My ticket told me to go back to work,” she quipped.
Store manager Nash Riad, 42, said their “community spirit” keeps customers “coming back and always trying their luck here.”
The phone has been ringing off the hook since the news broke, with locals offering congratulations. However, Riad has no clue who will be cashing in.
“The last couple of days we sold a lot of tickets,” he said.
Magdalena Gutewicz, 50, who works at a nearby bank, had not yet checked her tickets and was hoping to make a huge deposit.
“That would be incredible if I won. I would quit my job right away and travel the world — see Europe,” she said. “I think I would give away a lot of it too, to people who really need it. You have to spread the love.”
The store gets a $30,000 bounty for selling the golden ticket and owner Ameer Karass suggested his three cashiers will get a piece of the action. He likened Saturday’s hoopla to “Christmas coming in Easter.”
Robert O’Sullivan, 38, an area contractor, wasn’t down about being out of the giant jackpot.
“Lady Luck wasn’t on my side today, but I hope someone in the community got it . . . I still can’t believe that the winning ticket was bought here — at my local gas station. It shows you anything is possible.”
The jackpot is the fourth-largest in Mega Millions history and the 10th largest in US history. The winner must choose between an estimated annuity value of $521 million or a lump sum of $317.2 million. Two tickets, one in Ohio and one in Texas, matched the five white balls to win $1 million each.