New York Post

PIZZA SLICE O’ HEAVEN

$432M NY winner

- By LEE BROWN and GEORGETTE ROBERTS

That’s a lot of dough. A Mega Millions lottery ticket bought at a Manhattan pizza joint won $432 million on Tuesday night — the biggest jackpot in Big Apple history.

The lucky ticket, sold at Pronto Pizza on West 48th Street in Midtown, was the only winner in the nationwide drawing The jackpot will be about $315 million as a cash lump sum, working out to about $192 million after taxes, Mega Millions said.

The pizzeria also will get a slice, with a $10,000 commission for selling the ticket.

Pronto owner David Khirala, 55, told The Post the ticket was bought Tuesday night, just before all six numbers were drawn: 36, 41, 45, 51, 56 and Mega Ball 13.

“I don’t know who it is,” Khirala said, noting he “had a lot of people buying tickets yesterday.”

“I hope [they are] one of my regular customers. They deserve it to win,” he said, saying it was his “first major win” at the store.

“I’m happy for this person. With the pandemic and everything, probably they need it,” he said, hoping it “came at the right time for this person.”

The jackpot is the biggest ever Mega Millions win in the five boroughs and just a few million less than the state record of $437 million, which a group of 23 Long Island coworkers won on New Year’s Day in 2019.

That group collected just over $176 million after taxes — about $7.7 million each if divvied up evenly — remaining anonymous under a limited liability company suitably called New Life 2019 LLC.

This week’s haul was so big because there hadn’t been a Mega Millions jackpot winner since June 8, when a topprize ticket was sold in Illinois, the lottery said.

The next drawing — on Friday — resets to $20 million.

There’s a chance of an even bigger winner before then, however — with Wednesday night’s Powerball draw standing at $490 million.

Some customers headed to Pronto on Wednesday hoping the luck would rub off as they bought their Powerball tickets.

“People think this is the lucky store now,” Khirala told The Post, saying he had “definitely” sold more tickets to those hoping Pronto would produce “back-to-back” windfalls for its customers.

One customer, George Culha, 62, won $10 while checking old tickets and spent it on Powerball tickets.

“I’d build a house, invest, buy buildings, donate to some charities — I’d spend some on good causes,” Culha said, adding that would also give some of the dough to his two daughters.

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