Michael Pozzi, Betty Leong win big in Powerball, scratch-off game

Two lucky Long Islanders and a Florida man received ceremonial checks Wednesday after winning big in the New York Lottery.

Michael Pozzi, 50, of Central Islip, won a $1 million second-place Powerball prize, and Betty Leong, of Massapequa, cashed in on a $10,000 a Week for Life scratch-off winner. Daniel Golio, of Hudson, Florida, won the $5 million jackpot on a Cash X100 scratch-off ticket he purchased in the Bronx.

Pozzi said at a Plainview news conference that he had been playing the same numbers for the past couple months when he bought his winning Powerball ticket from the 7-Eleven on Motor Parkway in Brentwood in April.

Pozzi, who plays the lottery almost every day, said he started to hyperventilate after learning he had a winning ticket.

“I was in total awe,” Pozzi said. “I can’t believe this happened to me finally. I’ve been playing for so many years.”

Pozzi will receive a one-time, lump-sum payment of $661,800, which he plans to invest, use to pay off some bills and maybe buy a new house.

Leong, a retired teacher, won a multimillion-dollar payout after purchasing her winning ticket at LR Cards & Gifts on Merrick Road in Massapequa.

She will receive a one-time payment totaling $5,181,301, which she’ll use to pay off bills, donate to her church and to charity, and treat her family to a Yankees game.

“It’s really a godsend,” she said at the news conference.

Golio will receive a check, after taxes, for $2,647,200, and give the remaining $661,800 to his longtime lottery partner, Laura Bianco of Burlington, North Carolina.

By John Valenti

john.valenti@newsday.com,rachel.uda@newsday.com

John Valenti, a reporter at Newsday since 1981, has been honored nationally by the Associated Press and Society of the Silurians for investigative, enterprise and breaking news reporting, as well as column writing, and is the author of “Swee'pea,” a book about former New York playground basketball star Lloyd Daniels. Valenti is featured in the Emmy Award-winning ESPN 30-for-30 film “Big Shot.”