(Winners Pick Up Checks at Water’s Edge Restaurant as Part of NYC Restaurant Week Summer 08)

Schenectady, NY - $3,000,000 was the catch of the day at the Water’s Edge Restaurant in Long Island City where the New York Lottery served up a couple of oversized prize checks to two very lucky New York Lottery players during NYC Restaurant Week. The two new Lottery Millionaires, a stay-at-home grandmother from Flatbush, Brooklyn and a limousine driver from Astoria, Queens, received their checks from Lottery Drawing Personality Gretchen Dizer marking her New York City debut.

Brooklyn Grandmother Picks Up $2,000 A Week for Life…A La Carte

Fifty-three-year-old Sharon Miltz of Flatbush, Brooklyn doesn’t usually play the Lottery. “I probably only spent $20 on Lottery this whole year,” said the self-described “novice.” Miltz admitted she spent $5 of that total amount earlier this month on a Win $2,000 a Week for Life instant game, which she said, she bought, on a whim.

“I don’t know why I decided to buy that ticket at that time. I don’t usually buy them, but I did on this day, and it just worked out.”

Miltz’s lucky Win $2,000 a Week for Life instant ticket guarantees her a minimum prize payout of $2,000,000. She will receive her prize in quarterly payments for life. Her initial payment will total $36,000 less required tax withholdings, netting her $23,221. Her subsequent quarterly checks will total $26,000, less required tax withholdings, netting her $16,771 every three months.

Miltz and her husband, Steven, who works at a Brooklyn lumberyard, aren’t sure what to do with their $2,000,000 windfall. “We’re still in shock,” she said. “I just want to see my grandkids grow up. That’s my only plan for the time being.”

Miltz purchased her Win $2,000 a Week for Life scratch ticket on July 10, 2008 at the A K Newsstand on Ave. M in Brooklyn. She claimed it at the Lottery’s Customer Service Center in Manhattan the following day.

Order Up! One $500,000,000 Extravaganza – Hold the Celebration!

Astoria, Queens Limo driver Marcos Penteado said “disbelief” is the only way to describe his reaction when he saw the $1,000,000 symbol printed on his $500,000,000 Extravaganza scratch off ticket.

“You just don’t believe what you’re seeing,” he remembered. “It takes a few seconds to sink in and then you can’t stop looking. I got so nervous I had to call work to tell them I wouldn’t be in.”

The 57-year-old limo driver said he’s been a loyal Lottery player since arriving in New York from his native Brazil more than 14 years ago.

“I buy two tickets every Wednesday (payday) like clockwork,” he said. “And always this one.” Penteado said after returning from a much-needed vacation with his wife, Laura, a housekeeper, he plans to use the couple’s new found wealth to open his own business to “put them in an even better financial position.”

Penteado will receive his $1,000,000 prize in 20 annual payments of $50,000, less required tax withholdings. His annual net check will total $32,251.

Penteado purchased his $500,000,000 Extravaganza ticket on July 9, 2008 at the AAR Grocery on 30th Ave. in Astoria. He claimed it the same day at the Lottery’s Manhattan Customer Service Center.

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.