New York Lottery Winners

New Yorkers have been lucky enough to win some sensational cash sums in lotteries like Powerball and Mega Millions. Johnnie Ely from the Bronx was the first $100 million winner from the state when he landed the jackpot in the now-retired Millennium Millions game in 1999. While it is an impressive sum of money, it doesn’t even make today’s top 10 list of biggest winners, which you can find below.

• Johnnie Taylor – $476 million – Mega Millions

A lucky New Yorker won this record jackpot after buying their ticket from Liberty Beer & Convenience in Ozone Park, Queens. At the time, it was the 13th largest prize in Mega Millions history, and the cash option was worth $253 million. Johnnie Taylor, of Howard Beach in Queens, came forward to claim the prize and took the cash option. Remarkably, the jackpot was also won in New York in the very next draw, as a player from the Empire State picked up $20 million.

• Unknown winner – $432 million – Mega Millions

A pizza gave one lucky New York player a lot of dough on September 21, 2021. The single ticket sold at Pronto Pizza on West 48th Street in Manhattan, near Rockefeller Center, matched all six numbers to win the almost half-billion top prize: white balls 36, 41, 45, 51 and 56, and Mega Ball 13. The money was eventually claimed by a group known as Goodtimez, LLC., who took the lump sum of $315 million.

• Harold Diamond – $326 million – Mega Millions

Harold Diamond became the New York Lottery’s biggest winner after buying a Mega Millions ticket on Election Day in November 2014. Diamond and his wife had been driving to Middletown when she wanted to stop because of bad weather, so he popped into the Valero on Route 302 to get 10 lines of Quick Pick numbers. A retired elementary school principal from Wurtsboro in Sullivan County, Harold was aged 80 when he won and decided to take the cash sum of $197.4 million. He described himself as feeling ‘very blessed’.

• Syndicate from Albany – $319 million – Mega Millions

A group of co-workers at New York State’s Division of Housing and Community Renewal dubbed themselves ‘The Albany Seven’ after landing a huge $319 million jackpot in March 2011. One of the members, Mike Barth, revealed that another customer had cut in front of him when he bought his ticket at Coulson’s News store. The group chose the cash sum of $202.9 million, which worked out at over $19 million each after taxes.

• Daniel Bruckner – $208 million – Mega Millions

Financial analyst Daniel Bruckner from California was visiting relatives with his wife in Suffolk County, Long Island, when he won just after Christmas in 2011. They were in the King Kullen supermarket shopping for food when they saw how big the jackpot was and decided to spend $26 on tickets. They opted to take the prize as a lump sum, leaving them with $101 million after taxes.

• 1937 Flatbush Avenue Dodgers LLC – $201.9 million – Powerball

Powerball was only made available in New York in January 2010, and the following year a group of 20 Costco employees teamed up to win over $200 million. The winners began their Powerball pool just a month before landing the jackpot and their ages ranged from 24 to 73. They claimed the prize under a trust called ‘1937 Flatbush Avenue Dodgers LLC’, as rules stated that prizes can only be split a maximum of 10 ways. As there were double that number of winners in their lottery club, the trust was set up to receive the prize money, with each member then drawing an equal share. The group’s ticket buyer, Anthony Manzolillo, came up with the name as he used to live on Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn and was a fan of the 1937 Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team.

• Nancy Viola – $169 million – Mega Millions<

Nancy Viola from Staten Island had been setting her sights on the record-breaking Powerball jackpot of January 2016 when she ended up winning $169 million on Mega Millions instead. The homemaker asked her husband to stop for tickets and he bought $20 worth of Powerball entries, plus one for Mega Millions with a spare $1 left in his pocket.

• Jimmy Groves – $168 million – Mega Millions

Jimmy Groves from the Bronx grabbed a share of a $336 million Mega Millions jackpot when he matched the full winning line in August 2009, along with a player from California. He received a check for $168 million and opted to take the annuity, giving him a guaranteed income of $4 million a year after taxes for 26 years.

• Richard and Mary Morrison – $165 million – Mega Millions

Richard and Mary Morrison of Suffolk County scooped a huge Mega Millions jackpot in December 2009 and opted to take the cash sum of $102 million before taxes. They planned to use some of the money to open a seafood restaurant and help disadvantaged children, and they have since set up the Richard and Mary Morrison Foundation to help fund not-for-profit organizations and educational institutions.

• Juan Rodriguez – $149 million – Mega Millions

Juan Rodriguez, a Colombia native who became a U.S citizen in 1986, briefly became the biggest winner in New York Lottery history when he matched the full winning line on Mega Millions in November 2004.  Rodriguez had been bankrupt prior to his win, with a reported 78 cents in his savings account and $44,000 owed to his creditors.