Thirty-Three-Year-Old Guaranteed To Receive $1,000,000 A Year For Life

October 28, 2008-Schenectady, NY – A London-based banker with roots on Long Island who enjoys playing lottery scratch-off tickets during his frequent international business travels took home North America’s richest scratch off prize after winning the New York Lottery’s new “WIN $1,000,000 A Year for Life” instant game.

Raised on Long Island, Kenan Altunis, the Lottery’s most recent millionaire winner, was born in Turkey, and now works in the United Kingdom. The 33-year-old banker, who travels the world for Italy’s UniCredit Group, said he has purchased Lottery tickets in various countries, but prefers New York Lottery games because “New York’s prizes are richer than anywhere else in the world.”

The young father of one saw an in-store advertisement for the Win $1,000,000 A Year For Life instant game during a recent visit to his family’s home in Norwich, Suffolk County to attend a family wedding and prepare for his daughter’s christening. He said he knew right away it was the ticket for him.

“I knew there wouldn’t be time that weekend to buy tickets for myself so I left enough money with my mother to buy three before leaving for the airport,” said Altunis. “It turned out to be the best return on any investment I’ve ever made.”

On September 30, 2008, Mrs. Altunis visited the Norwich Service Station on Northern Boulevard in East Norwich where she purchased her son’s three tickets before a retail clerk suggested she splurge on a fourth. The fourth ticket ultimately contained the winning prize. Later that afternoon, Mrs. Altunis called her son in London to break the life-changing news and then promptly hid the winning ticket under her mattress for safekeeping.

Accustomed to the fast pace of international business, Altunis said nothing could prepare him for “the adrenaline rush that comes with winning $1,000,000 a year for life.”

Altunis claimed his $1,000,000 A Year For Life prize on October 3, 2008 at the Lottery’s Customer Service Center in Garden City. He will receive his prize in annual payments totaling $931,500. He is guaranteed to receive a minimum pay out of $20,000,000. His prize is not subject to federal taxation pursuant to an international Tax Treaty between the United States and the United Kingdom which exempts a resident of the United Kingdom from federal income taxes imposed by the Internal Revenue Service.

Having recently celebrated his fourth wedding anniversary, Altunis plans to use his sudden wealth to “take care of his parents and invest in his daughter’s future and for (his) other children yet to come.”

The first Win $1,000,000 a Year for Life prize comes just eight weeks after the ticket was launched at an August 29, 2008 media event held near the United Nations to celebrate the diversity of the Lottery’s players from all over the world. Altunis received his over-sized check at the BlueStreak, an elite athlete training facility at Chelsea Piers, as a complement to the fun theme of the Lottery’s new advertising campaign for the ticket which encourages winners to stay healthy and reminds them, “you keep living, we’ll keep paying.”

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%. 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.