By Ivan Pereira
The ads for the Take 5 lottery game say it takes a “little bit of luck” to win the prize.
After a Jamaica convenience store sold a winning Take 5 ticket Sunday night, just a month after it had sold a $133 million ticket, customers said they began to think the store had a plethora of good fortune.
Dozens of would-be millionaires flocked to the Shiv Convenience Store at 169-09 Hillside Ave. Monday to see if lightning could strike three times in a row.
“Maybe tonight is my night, said Dempsey Short, 57 a regular Lotto player at the store. “They say you’ve got to be in it to win it.”
Bharat Patel, the store’s manager, said the Take 5 winner claimed his $66,053 prize Monday afternoon. Patel, who has known the unidentified player for three years, said he has been playing lottery games at his store for years and was excited when he scanned the winning ticket.
“I’m feeling very well because we keep winning,” Patel said as he handled lottery ticket requests.
New York State Lottery had not given the name of the Take 5 winner as of press time Tuesday. A spokeswoman for the New York Lottery said the latest winner can only cash his prize at one of the state’s customer service centers since it is a large amount.
“We have our customer service center on the lookout, but we have not heard from the winner,” Jennifer Givner of the Lottery said.
On July 7, Aubrey Boyce won the $133 Mega Millions jackpot after he bought the winning ticket from the Jamaica grocery store. Boyce, a married New York City Transit Authority collections agent from Kew Gardens, kept a low profile after he found out he won, while dozens of customers flocked to Shiv to see if they could be the next winner.
Boyce eventually revealed himself as the winner at a news conference at Grand Central Terminal three weeks later and said he would take the nearly $83 million lump sum payment for his winnings. Patel and his co-workers were also winners in the Mega Millions win.
As a reward for selling the ticket, the state lottery gave Shiv Convenience $10,000.
Although the store did not receive a bonus for selling the Take 5 ticket, Patel said the publicity of the back-to-back wins has brought in several new customers because they think it is a lucky location.
Elmhurst resident Chantal Leonce, who picked up a lottery ticket from the store, said she thinks the wins were made with a little divine intervention.
“I don’t know why the store is lucky. Maybe God had something to do with it,” she said.
Reach reporter Ivan Pereira by e-mail at ipereira@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-229-0300, Ext. 146.
