(Retiree from Shirley Claims $2,000,000 Prize on $500,000,000 Extravaganza Scratch Game)

Schenectady, NY – Five is a lucky number. Just ask Margaret “Peggy” Sfoglia of Shirley, Suffolk County. The 60-year-old retired bookkeeper and mother of five is the Island’s newest Lottery Millionaire and the fifth to claim a Lottery prize of $1,000,000 or more so far this year. Sfoglia won her prize on the Lottery’s $500,000,000 Extravaganza game.

“It’s a miracle,” said Sfoglia who retired from her position as a bookkeeper at an undisclosed Long Island insurance agency just over five years ago. “It’s either that or my husband has ESP because he told me I was going to win big the day I bought my ticket. Either way, it’s pretty amazing.”

Sfoglia purchased her winning $500,000,000 Extravaganza ticket on May 14, 2008 at the 7-Eleven store located on William Floyd Parkway in Shirley where she is a regular customer.

“I buy my tickets there religiously,” she said. “Every morning it’s the same thing – a cup of coffee and three scratch-off tickets so I have something to do when I drink my coffee. That’s how I usually start my day, but this time was a little different.”

Sfoglia and her husband Ben, 65, claimed the winning ticket at the Lottery’s Garden City Customer Service Center the same day she bought it. The couple plans to use the $2,000,000 prize to pay bills and take care of family.

“We have five children from 23 to 38 years old and three grandchildren so far,” she said. “I’m sure the extra money will come in handy down the road.”

The $2,000,000 prize on the $500,000,000 Extravaganza ticket is paid out in 20 annual installments of $100,000 each, less required tax withholdings. Sfoglia will receive an annual net check totaling $68,150.

Sfoglia is the second resident of Shirley, NY to win a Lottery jackpot prize of $1,000,000 or more. The other local Lottery Millionaire is Stephen Drew who claimed a $4,000,000 top prize on the Lottery’s $4,000,000 Spectacular instant game in 2002.

The New York Lottery contributed nearly $2.6 billion to help support education in New York State on revenues of $7.549 billion in fiscal year 2007-08 - - a profit margin of 34.3%. Last year, the Lottery’s earnings accounted for over 13% of total state education funding. The New York Lottery continues to be North America’s largest and most profitable Lottery, earning over $34.2 billion in education support statewide since its founding over 40 years ago.