New York Lottery: $1M Mega Millions ticket sold in Hicksville

Besides their usual morning greeting, on Wednesday some of the regular customers at the 7-Eleven on Stewart Avenue in Hicksville had something else to say to manager Jay Patel.

“I was really surprised when a regular customer came in and told us we had a winner — then one by one customers came in and told us we had a winner,” Patel said in a telephone interview.

A $1 million second-place Mega Millions lottery ticket was purchased at the 7-Eleven, according to the New York State Lottery website.Another $1 million second-prize ticket was sold at the Sweet 14 candy store on East 14th Street in Manhattan.

The winning numbers in the Tuesday drawing, according to the website, were 20, 22, 52, 57 and 73, with a Mega ball of 7.

No one had the Mega Ball number and there was no winner of the $303 million jackpot.

Unfortunately, because the winning ticket carries a second-place prize, the store doesn’t receive any money for having sold a winner, according to New York Lottery spokeswoman Carolyn Hapeman.

But that’s OK, Patel said, he’s happy for the winner anyway.

“I’m still happy for whoever the customer is who won and that they purchased the ticket at this 7-Eleven,” Patel said. “I wish good luck to them and their family, and I hope they use it to make somebody a better life.”

The next Mega Millions drawing is Friday, with a $323 million jackpot.

With William Murphy