A Long Island man found an old lotto ticket while rummaging through his truck last week, only to discover it was worth $2.9 million.
The New York Post reported that Jerry Ritieni bought $20 in lottery tickets in mid-July, and stuffed them in the center console instead of putting them in his pocket, as he normally does. Nearly two months later, while searching for a set of keys, he found the tickets and took them into his office at Extreme Auto Body Repairs in Massapequa to check the numbers online.
"I was going through my numbers one by one, circling each number that matched up," he said. "It took a minute for me to comprehend that I just hit the jackpot. I was like, 'No way, no way! Holy s**t!'"
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The first person Ritieni told was his 17-year-old son, who was with him, and then he phoned his daughter.
"They didn’t believe me because I’m a joking dad," Ritieni
told ABC News.
According to the New York State Lottery, Ritieni's odds of winning were 1-in-47 million.
Asked what he plans to do with the money, Ritieni said he would likely take the lump sum payout — worth $1.3 million after taxes — and use it "to secure my kids' future," he said. "That’s more important than anything."
He said he also plans to keep working.
Ritieni’s employee, 24-year-old Ryan Rivera said he knew his boss' win was real because, "His smile gave it away — he never smiles. That was a $3 million smile."
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