Lucky Lottery Winner Turns $30 into $10 Million but Loses $4M Immediately
According to The Sun , A lucky New York lottery player turned a $30 investment into an incredible $10 million windfall, but ended up walking away with much less due to her choice of payout option.
Sabina Ospino, a resident of Jackson Heights, Queens, won the top prize in the New York Lottery’s 200X scratch-off game. She purchased her winning ticket at Shabaz Deli located at 7403 37th Avenue in Jackson Heights. Ospino beat the slim odds of one in 3.5 million to claim the $10 million prize by matching her numbers to the winning ones.
However, instead of choosing the annuity option, which would have provided a series of payments over time, Ospino opted for a lump sum payout. This decision resulted in a significant reduction in her winnings, as she immediately lost nearly $4 million due to taxes. After federal, state, and city taxes, Ospino took home $6,122,400.
The largest portion of her tax burden came from federal taxes, which took 24% of her prize, followed by 10.9% for New York State taxes and 3.876% for New York City taxes.
In a separate lottery story, an Illinois woman had an emotional moment after realizing she had won $1 million from a $1 Lucky Day Lotto ticket. The woman had purchased the ticket at Jewel-Osco grocery store in Elmhurst, 18 miles from Chicago, while running errands on October 20. She forgot about the ticket until days later when she checked it using her lottery app.
To her astonishment, the app displayed “$1,000,000.” “I was in total shock,” she said, adding that after scanning the ticket again and confirming the win, she couldn’t help but cry. “This is unbelievable,” she added.
The woman plans to use her newfound fortune to fund annual trips to Ireland, her favorite destination. “The landscape is stunning, and I’m thrilled that I can now look forward to these trips every year,” she said.
Other lottery players have also experienced life-changing wins. One winner, who stopped at a store to return a carton of orange juice, left with an astounding $315 million. Meanwhile, an anonymous Powerball player won $1 million but missed out on a $409 million jackpot by just one number.
