3 from LI win million-dollar lottery prizes
Lottery winners Margaret and Wallace Bryan celebrate at a news conference after winning $3 million from a Bonanza scratch-off game they bought at the 7-Eleven in Bayport. (Feb. 24, 2012) Credit: James Carbone
Three more Long Islanders have joined the ranks of million-dollar lottery winners.
New York Lottery personality Yolanda Vega presented ceremonial prize checks to Margaret and Wallace Bryan of Bayport and Mark Chant of Middle Island Friday at a 7-Eleven store in Bayport.
Margaret Bryan, a housekeeping manager at a Long Island hospital who will split her prize with her husband, purchased her winning ticket Jan. 28 at that 7-Eleven.
"I went in the car, scratched my ticket and couldn't believe it," said Margaret Bryan, 56, who won a $3-million prize in a Bonanza scratch-off game.
"I was in complete shock," said her husband, Wallace, 56, a licensed land surveyor. "With the economy, it's a big weight off our shoulders."
The Bonanza ticket jackpot is paid over 20 years at $150,000 annually. Margaret Bryan and her husband will each receive a check for more than $49,000 a year, after taxes, through 2031.
The couple plan to resume their annual Florida Keys trip, which they'd stopped taking in 2007. They will also help two of their four children with wedding expenses.
Mark Chant, 38, a sales representative who won a $1-million second prize in the Jan. 28 Powerball drawing, said he only plays the game when the jackpot is more than $100 million.
"I play when it gets big, pick up the paper and throw down a couple of bucks," Chant said. He plans to put his winnings toward his children's college education and a golf trip to St. Andrews Links in Scotland. "We'll do some vacations and stuff, but we'll just try and stay the same," he said. Chant will take a lump-sum payment pocketing more than $600,000 after taxes.
Chant purchased his ticket at a 7-Eleven on Route 25 in Ridge, right around the corner from the King Kullen that sold the winning $208-million Mega Millions ticket in December.
Along with the Bryans and Chant, two winners from Queens were presented with checks. Chi Mo, 53, an attorney from Flushing, claimed the $1-million second prize in the Feb. 11 Powerball drawing. Margaret Casey, 65, a widow from Sunnyside, won a $1-million prize on a 20X The Money scratch-off ticket.
Overall, $6 million in prizes was presented Friday.
Out East with Doug Geed: Wine harvests, a fish market, baked treats and poinsettias NewsdayTV's Doug Geed visits two wineries and a fish market, and then it's time for holiday cheer, with a visit to a bakery and poinsettia greenhouses.
Out East with Doug Geed: Wine harvests, a fish market, baked treats and poinsettias NewsdayTV's Doug Geed visits two wineries and a fish market, and then it's time for holiday cheer, with a visit to a bakery and poinsettia greenhouses.
