Somers Gas Attendant Wins $1M in Powerball
For Darwin Morales of Somers, a $20 tip he received while working as a gas attendant at a Bedford service station turned out to be more than good fortune on May 4.
Morales, 25, a native of Guatemala who moved to New York seven years ago to be near family, invested $14 of that tip on the New York State Lottery Powerball jackpot, which had grown to $193 million. “I got off work and was talking with another attendant about how big the jackpot was for that night and it reminded me to play,” he said.
Armed with seven sets of Quick Pick numbers, Morales matched the first five numbers, minus the Powerball, to win the second place prize of $1 million. Morales didn’t realize he had won until a week later when he reported to work at another station owned by his employer at Bedford Shell.
“I was drinking my coffee when I heard some people talking about a winning Powerball ticket sold at the other station,” Morales recalled at a press conference last week in Fishkill with the New York Lottery’s well known personality Yolanda Vega. “I remembered I still had my ticket in my wallet. I checked and sure enough!”
The new Lottery millionaire said his life has changed dramatically in a short time.
“I moved here because my family is here. New York is a magic place for a lot of people,” Morales said. “My town in Guatemala is so small it doesn’t even have a name. There are 17 houses in my town, that’s it.”
Morales chose to receive his prize in one lump sum, which after taxes totals $611,800. The odds of winning the second prize in Powerball are 1 in 5.1 million.
In 2012-13, the New York Lottery contributed $70.8 million in Lottery Aid To Education to school districts throughout Westchester County.
Rick has more than 40 years’ experience covering local news in Westchester and Putnam counties, running the gamut from politics and crime to sports and human interest. He has been an editor at Examiner Media since 2012. Read more from Rick’s editor-author bio here. Read Rick’s work here: https://www.theexaminernews.com/author/pezzullo_rick-writer/
