A Staten Island man is $7,000,000 richer after hitting a scratch-off lottery ticket jackpot.
Rigoberto Mejia, a construction company owner, hit it big on New York Lottery’s $7,000,000 “Golden Ticket,” according to the New York State Gaming Commission.
“I always buy the tickets with the biggest prizes,” Mejia said in a statement.
Mejia bought his ticket on Nov. 30 at a bagel store on Staten Island and claimed his prize Dec. 2. He chose to cash it in as a one-time lump sum, totaling $4,361,280.
He received his payout Wednesday, just two days before Christmas.
Mejia said when he took the ticket home to his wife on Nov. 30 they “kept looking at the ticket for a couple of hours and asking themselves, ‘Can this be real?’”