New York Lottery Commissioner says event is infrequent
By Kate Northrop
YONKERS, N.Y. — One lottery retailer in New York sold three $1 million winning tickets for a single Powerball drawing, an occurrence that the New York Lottery says is infrequent.
There were three winning Powerball tickets for the second-tier prize in a drawing last week, and all three came from the same store in New York.
On Tuesday last week, the New York Lottery announced that there were three second-tier prize-winning tickets sold at the same spot for the Oct. 20 Powerball drawing. V&C Taneja on Nepperhan Avenue in Yonkers had sold all three tickets that won $1 million that night in the nation that night.
V&C Taneja is a convenience store attached to a BP gas station, and employees are saying that more players are frequenting the store in hopes that they can capture a bit of that luck as well.
"They all know this is the lucky spot," store manager Shahid Shah, 54, told The New York Post on Thursday. "This is the first time I ever see it like this. Everyone is coming by and buying Powerball tickets in the morning."
Locals have been asking questions about who the lucky winners are or whether it was just one winner buying three separate tickets, Shah explained.
"Just everyone coming in buying Powerball tickets," he continued. "All of them asking me, 'Who's the winner, who's the winner?' They all want to know who won."
Lottery winners in New York technically can't claim prizes anonymously, but there have been some players who have created an LLC to collect their winnings without revealing their name.
New York State Gaming Commission spokesman Lee Park told The Post that the identity of the ticketholder, or ticketholders, is unknown since none of the three $1 million winning tickets have been claimed yet. No one has stepped forward to validate them.
"While multiple winning tickets of a million dollars or more purchased at a single location is indeed infrequent, good luck is certainly not unprecedented in the Empire State," Park said to the outlet.
It's possible that the three tickets were all purchased by one player who was playing a favorite set of numbers multiple times, Park added.
New York Lottery officials did not know whether this happenstance had ever occurred before at any other store.
Journalists stopped customers in the store to ask them if the news of the triple win had reached their ears. Some players said that they specifically came out to the store to play just for that reason.
"I drove here all the way from Throgs Neck in the Bronx," 56-year-old restaurant worker Edgar Gonzalez said in an interview. "My wife told me, because I've got good luck, she says, go there and play. So I came here because I'm going for the big prize."
"I saw it on TV," Bronx resident and grocery store employee Wilton Soto, 35, remarked. "That was here? Maybe this is the lucky spot. I got to come here all the time now."
Other customers were just finding out about it on the spot.
"This place sold three-million-dollar winners on Monday?" Bronx resident and rental car business owner Xavier Santana, 35, asked the cashier behind the counter. "Yo, give me a quick pick. Yeah I'll take that cash for life. How much are they? Yeah, give me $10!"
Whoever owns the three winning tickets has until Oct. 19, 2026 to collect the prizes. Winners in New York have one year from the draw date to claim lottery winnings.
The three $1 million winning tickets matched all five white ball numbers in the Oct. 20, 2025 Powerball drawing — 32, 38, 66, 67, and 69 — but missed red Powerball number 19 to hit the $304.7 million jackpot.
The next Powerball annuity jackpot estimate for the drawing on Monday, Oct. 27 currently stands at $358 million.
Powerball is currently offered for sale in 45 states, plus Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Drawings are Mondays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays at 10:59 p.m. Eastern Time. Tickets cost $2 each.
Powerball lottery results are published within minutes of the drawing at USA Mega (www.usamega.com). The USA Mega website provides lottery players in-depth information about the United States' two biggest multi-state lottery games, Mega Millions and Powerball.
I did this a few times accidentally, with my wife and I playing the same numbers when the other did not know, or getting a couple play slips mixed up with the same picks in a small stack, also by accident. Congrats to the three time winner!!! I think it is highly unlikely it was three separate winners.
I'm sure the lottery already looked at the stores security cameras along with ticket print times to know if it was only one person or not. Not sure if New York has vending lotto machines, but I had a issue once with a Michigan Lottery vending machine and customer support looked up the transaction from the last 4 digits of my debit card. The Lottery knows but there not going to give that info out for security reasons.
Nah...it's not rigged...lol
It very well could have been someone who played the same 5 numbers with 3 different powerballs
* Sure hope they hung onto their tickets.
"I think it is highly unlikely it was three separate winners. "
As above, the lottery already knows if all 3 wins were on a single ticket, multiple tickets played together or in a short time span, or 3 (or more) tickets played over a longer timespan. Since there was nothing special about the winning numbers even having 3 winners in the entire state would have been unlikely. The chance of 3 randomly chosen tickets at a single retailer is basically zero.
"It very well could have been someone who played the same 5 numbers with 3 different powerballs "
Either that or somebody who played the same 5 numbers with the same power ball for some reason. I once had a clerk who though he knew how to print 1 ticket for each of the next 3 drawings print 3 identical tickets for one drawing. I don't know who ended up with those tickets but it wasn't me. We all know that some people do buy mistakes, so maybe that's how it happened. It's also possible that there are 3 different winners because the initial buyer refused 3 duplicates that were later sold.
First of all congratulations.
Looking @ PB website when it said three NY winners said hopefully not Manhattan where they add another tax to your winnings. Go Yonkers!!
Most likely.
🥲
Very true but the question I have is did they buy three separate tickets using the same betslip for each purchase, or did they purchase three lines on one ticket using one betslip?
As for me, I use one betslip to play five identical lines of five numbers on one PB ticket, with a different PB on each line. I also add the Powerplay option.
The article states "There were three winning Powerball tickets for the second-tier prize in a drawing last week, and all three came from the same store in New York." The article doesn't say who said that. If The NY lottery said it, then it's my guess that the player very likely bought three separate tickets. Each ticket would have the same first five numbers as the other two.
When I lived in New York I used to buy five identical PB lines using one betslip. (PowerPlay option added) I received one ticket. I often wondered if anybody else had done what I was doing. I live in Florida now, and when I play PB I still do it. It's conceivable that I could win 10 million dollars doing that. G5
While it is unusual, people buying multple identical lines isn't all that uncommon. We don't hear about all the times that it was done but it didn't produce a jackpot winner. We only hear about it when it wins big.
In New York City, especially Brooklyn, many savvy players buy multiple tickets with the same set of numbers. They do it a lot with Take5 to reduce the pari-muteul aspect of the game. Many times I've read the "Top Prize Winners" report published on The NY Lottery website that showed someone winning 80% of a jackpot with four jackpot winning lines. Another poor sole was listed that won 20% of it with a fifth line. Had the savvy player not bought four lines the split would have been 50/50.
I also saw it once with New Yorks now retired Sweet Millions game which was NOT pari-muteul. A guy played the same line of six numbers three times and won three million bucks.
A guy in Massachusetts won MASS Cash ten times in one drawing by buying ten tickets using the same betslip for each ticket he purchased. As I recall he won a total of one million dollars. G5
I went back an re-read the article......
"New York State Gaming Commission spokesman Lee Park told The Post that the identity of the ticketholder, or ticketholders, is unknown since none of the three $1 million winning tickets have been claimed yet."
So there's the answer to my question. G5
California had 4 winners once, but not at the same store. More realistic. We need that to happen more
"Lottery winners in New York technically can't claim prizes anonymously, but there have been some players who have created an LLC to collect their winnings without revealing their name."
There's hidden beauty in this whole thing. The player won't even need to create an LLC to protect their anonymity.... and if they're super smart, other than the NY Lottery, it's very possible that nobody will ever know who the winner is/was.
This was a SECOND TIER win, not a jackpot win. That means the winners name won't appear on any report of jackpot winners published by the NY Lottery. On that report, they publish JACKPOT winners names, but not lower tier winners.
If the winner waits for a couple of months to pass, and then cashes in their tickets, chances are the whole thing will have been forgotten by most.
The only way the NY Lottery will reveal the winners name is if they receive a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request. IMHO nobody will ever submit one. I doubt the media would either. G5
QP's or chosen numbers ? Makes a difference
What time frame were they purchased on Monday ? Within a minute or 2 ? Spread out through the day?
If they were QP's,what does that say about about massive repeat number sales from machines or was it done solely by this machine ? Last I knew, the machines were RNG.
Perhaps I missed something in the story.
Although it's theoretically possible for each ticket to have been a QP, that's so highly unlikely that it's just plain crazy to think that's what actually happened.
It could have happened by accident more so than it was intentionally done. (Multiple players using identical bet slips) For instance a husband or a wife each used their own copy of a bet slip not knowing the other spouse had already purchased a ticket using their copy. But that explanation doesn't account for the third ticket....
That third ticket is what makes me lean towards that it was intentionally done. Such as a guy used the same bet slip to buy three separate tickets which he could have done in the same store minutes or even hours apart.
There's a back story behind it, but the public may never really know exactly how it happened. G5
I've had people say to me "You're crazy for playing the same line of PB numbers multiple times. Adding The PowerPlay option makes it even crazier because that ticket costs you 3 bucks for each stinkin' line!"
Oh yeah?
The current Florida Lotto jackpot for Wednesday October 29th is $1,000,000. The odds on wining that million dollars is 22,957,480 to 1. (Or I could add "The Double Play" for an additional dollar to win $1,250,000. A Total of $3 per line)
I could also use that same 3 bucks to buy a ticket for next Wednesday night's PB drawing and possibly win $2,000,000. The odds of doing that are 11,688,053 to 1. That's HALF of Florida Lotto's odds but I could win almost twice as much money....
Everybody knows playing the lottery is a Suckers Bet. But some Suckers are smarter than other Suckers.... G5
i agree it has to be the same person who played the set of numbers multiple times!
"Although it's theoretically possible for each ticket to have been a QP, that's so highly unlikely that it's just plain crazy to think that's what actually happened. "
The retailer probably sold only a few thousand PB tickets for that drawing. To make it simple let's call it 11,688 tickets, or 1 for every 1000 5+0 combinations. That makes the odds of one ticket winning a 5+0 prize 1 in 1000. The odds of 3 winning tickets is then 1 in 1 billion. Based on NY's total sales and the number of retailers I'd guess even 5,000 PB tickets is far more than their actual sales. That would put the actual odds at 1 in 10 billion at best.
" The player won't even need to create an LLC to protect their anonymity....
This was a SECOND TIER win, not a jackpot win. That means the winners name won't appear on any report of jackpot winners published by the NY Lottery. "
They may not issue a full press release about smaller wins, but the NY lottery has a page devoted to winners of all significant prizes. If you win a 5+0 prize in PB or MM you'll also win a listing on the page and the listing will include the name of the legal entity that claimed the prize.
The problem with winning $1 million is that you lose a bigger portion of the prize to the cost of having somebody else be the name attached to the LLC if you go that route.
congrats winners.
Congratulations winner(s).
Good thing it was Yonkers vs the burough of Manhattan. They'd be socked with another tax on their winnings.
Agreed, The NY Lottery does have a on their website a page containing photos and names of lower tier winners in addition to all jackpot winners.
When I lived in New York (I moved to Florida in 2020) it was my understanding that all jackpot winners did not have a choice to remain anonymous (so as to be able to collect their winnings) but lower tier winners were given an option to have their name and photo appear on that page. I knew someone that didn't win a scratch off jackpot, but the prize he did win was $25,000. He told me the form he filled out at the lottery office had a question on it along with a check box asking if he was willing to have his picture taken so that it could be included on their website. He didn't check the box, and his name and picture didn't appear on the website.
I've no idea if that's still the case or not. And of course $25,000 is a far cry from three million dollars. If it is still the case and it was me that won three million with a second place prize, I do know I wouldn't check that box. G5
Just checked out The NY Lottery's winners page. There are winners listed of both Mega Millions and PowerBall 1/2 million dollar second place prizes. Some had the winners name listed as well as their photo. Others had just the winners name but no photo of them.
The question I have is it mandatory for those second place winners to have at least their names appear? One very recent PB winner claimed two million with an LLC, so there was no picture. I clicked on a few of them, but there was no mention of whether or not it was mandatory for at least their names to be listed. G5
For those living in Florida, the question of whether or not a second place PB prize winner can remain anonymous is clear. Well it's kinda clear anyway, but not really.
"Florida law mandates that the Florida Lottery provide the winner’s name, city of residence, game won, date won, and amount won to any third party who requests the information"
On its website, The Florida lottery publishes a "Jackpot Winners and Retailer Information" report which does not include any second place PB/MM prize winner info. So how would most people know and subsequently request the information about a player that won three million dollars doing whatever happened in New York unless The Florida Lottery issued a press release about it?
But then Florida law complicates the matter a little bit further - "Beginning May 25, 2022, the names of Lottery winners claiming prizes of $250,000 or greater will be temporarily exempt from public disclosure (under F.S. 24.1051(3)(a)) for 90 days from the date the prize is claimed unless otherwise waived by the winner. After 90 days, the winner’s name is no longer confidential and exempt."
So even though they don't publish PB/MM second place prize winner info in The Jackpot Winners and Retail Information report (a PDF file that can be downloaded) a second place PB winner could claim their prize using an LLC and request temporary anonymity for 90 days!
I guess you can win a 3 million dollar second place PB prize in Florida and be kinda confident nobody will ever know.... I'd love to be in a situation where I could eventually learn that for certain. G5
My guess is that the winner was wheeling a bunch of numbers and inadvertently wrote the same combo down more than once on his list or else they did it when filling out their play slips.
"is it mandatory for those second place winners to have at least their names appear? "
The lottery thinks so, but they might be wrong. A lawsuit in NH struck down the lottery's claimed rule that state law required them to release the names. The law the lottery relied on was a sunshine law requiring the state to make public the names of entities they did business with. The judge ruled that the law was intended to make state business, such as building contracts and other things public. I've got no idea what the NY law actually says, but if it's not an actual statute making it clear that lottery winners name are public record there's a chance it could be struck down.
Of course it you win a couple of million it's cheaper to just set up an LLC and let somebody else worry about it.
that was my first thought. i have seen someone do that, buying every red ball number with a fixed set of five white ball numbers. this winner is probably kicking himself that he didn't just splurge on buying every red ball number.
That's a pretty good guess, as good as any I've seen anyway.
I hope how it actually did happen comes to light. Players sometimes either accidentally or intentionally do what appears at first to be strange things when they buy lottery tickets.
Years ago a work buddy of mine did something and I could never figure out why he did it. He'd buy a one line NY Lotto QP. Then he took the numbers from the QP ticket and marked them twice on a Lotto betslip. Then he'd buy another ticket. He ended up with two tickets. One ticket had a single line of six numbers on it (the QP) the other had two identical lines of six numbers on it, and they matched the numbers on his QP ticket.
I finally asked him why he did it. His answer was "Haven't you ever heard of crazy things that people do when buying a ticket and then they won a big pile of money because they did it?" I said that Id heard of that. He said "This is MY crazy thing." I said "What if somebody else won too?" He said "They'd get 25% of the jackpot and I'd get 75% of it, and I'd have no problem with taking three separate checks if that's how they decided to pay me."
After that conversation I couldn't figure if he was nuts or not. G5
Yeah... They'd have won the jackpot if they had bought all 26 red ball numbers. They'd have traded $52 for $300,000,000 or so.
But there are people that couldn't care less what the advertised jackpot is because they play for a second place win. That's what I do, and I add the PowerPlay because I don't care what the jackpot is. G5
Nice story bruh...
"Haven't you ever heard of crazy things that people do when buying a ticket and then they won a big pile of money because they did it?"
The guy was stupid not crazy.
"Then he took the numbers from the QP ticket and marked them twice on a Lotto betslip. Then he'd buy another ticket. He ended up with two tickets. One ticket had a single line of six numbers on it (the QP) the other had two identical lines of six numbers on it, and they matched the numbers on his QP ticket. "
Aside from the stupidity of thinking that crazy ideas are the reason for winning, the two lines on a NY Lotto ticket (usually) give you two chances to match numbers, but it's still only one ticket can and can only win one prize. There's also the issue of it being impossible to buy a NY Lotto ticket with only one line.If he replayed the two lines from a QP it would at least double any prize other than the jackpot and the 2nd place prize.
One of the stupidest things I've heard of was two friends each buying a NY Lotto ticket with identical numbers because they wanted to share the jackpot if they won. As it happens, they did win, but they could have either saved $1 or bought two different tickets and had twice as much chance of winning a prize that they'd have been able to share anyway. They happened to get lucky, but it was still a stupid strategy, and they'd probably done it before.
"They'd have won the jackpot if they had bought all 26 red ball numbers. "
There's the problem with being convinced you've got the right 5 numbers and also having a budget you're going to stick to.