Metro

$168M ‘burger’ king

Forget filet mignon — Madison Square Garden laborer Jimmy Groves said “I’m going to go buy a hamburger” after collecting his $168 million Mega Millions lottery prize yesterday.

“I still have to pay my rent, lights and gas,” Groves, 49, said at a Garden press conference.

Decked out in a cream-colored fedora, cream-colored shirt and brown pants, he said “I’m just a regular guy like everybody else. I got lucky.”

Groves grinned broadly when presented with the oversized check bearing the amount $168 million — his half of the $336 million Mega Millions jackpot from the Aug. 28 drawing.

“It changed my life in 168 ways,” said Groves. “It’s a gift from God, no doubt. I can’t think of 168 million reasons why this is a good time to retire.”

Groves — whose identity as the winner first was reported by The Post last week — bought the lucky ticket at the Fordham Grocery and Convenience Store in The Bronx.

“I play Mega every week, and 99 percent of the time I go with the lump-sum [payout option] like everybody else,” Groves said. “This time, I went with the annuity, thinking a little change like that might bring a change of luck.”

“Something just said to me ’26 payments,’ ” recalled Groves, who will get about $4.04 million after taxes annually for the next two-plus decades.

An 18-year Garden veteran, Groves said “I was at work” when he checked the ticket.

“I didn’t believe it,” he said about seeing that he had the winning number combination: 1, 17, 31, 37, 54, and Mega Ball 31.

“I called my momma. She was more than happy. She was elated,” said Groves, who has a 28-year-old daughter, 13-year-old son and a grandson.

He then phoned his brother. “I told him that somebody in The Bronx had hit, and he said, ‘That’s a lucky guy, that’s a lucky stiff.’ I said, ‘Be careful who you’re calling a stiff,’ ” Groves said.

“I’m going to buy a hamburger,” he said when asked of his immediate plans.

“I’m going to put my granddaughter in a private school. Maybe college is in her future, and hopefully it’s in my son’s future.”

Saying he no longer lives in the crime-ridden Grant Houses project in Harlem, Groves said he’s considering purchasing a home in The Bronx, Harlem or Brooklyn. “I’m a New Yorker,” he said.