Metro

Six New Yorkers score lottery millions

Six New Yorkers beat the odds and hit million-dollar lottery jackpots, including a Brooklyn man who rarely plays and bought the winning ticket on a whim while visiting his mom upstate.

Jewdyer Osborne, 38, won a top prize on the Win $1,000 a Week for Life scratch-off game after buying a ticket at a Mighty Mart gas station, lottery officials said Thursday at their Manhattan headquarters on Beaver Street.

Osborne, a social worker, will take his prize as a one-time lump sum of $774,522 – $482,558 after taxes – and plans to invest his winnings “to make the money work for me.”

George Varona, 54, of Manhattan also won big on a Win $1,000 a Week for Life, the only lottery game he plays.

He bought the winner at Broadway Deli Grocery at 3660 Broadway in Manhattan last month, and is guaranteed to receive a minimum payout of $1 million over the next 20 years.

Varona said he has so many ideas on how to spend his bundle that he doesn’t know where to start.

Retired electrician Henry Bennudriti, 65, of Staten Island won a second prize, but still came out a millionaire.

He bought a Powerball ticket at Zaxco at 1180 Forest Ave. in Staten Island because the jackpot was so high.

“When it’s up there, you might as well give it a shot. What do you have to lose?” Bennundriti explained.

He found out the next day that he had matched five of the six winning numbers, good enough for a $623,040 after-tax payout.

Bennundriti plans to use the windfall to pay bills, fix up his house and maybe take an Alaskan cruise.

Brooklyn resident Alonso Fernandez, 80, a $1 million Powerball second prize from the Sept. 14 drawing.

Fernandez said he’s played the lottery every day for 40 years and calls that his “hobby.” That winning ticket was purchased at C & J Stationery at 209 Prospect Park West in Brooklyn.

He’ll take a lump-sum, after-tax payment of $623,040.

“[I’m] very happy, thrilled and excited, but still in disbelief,” Fernandez said of his incredible good luck.

Million-dollar Powerball winner Olin Lyles of Brooklyn thought he had won $100,000 from the Aug. 7 drawing.

It wasn’t until his daughter took a closer look at the ticket and winning numbers and told her dad that had won $1 million.

He also took the one-time payment of $623,040. The winning ticket was purchased at the Classon Finest Deli at 667 Classon Ave. in Brooklyn.

“Once I get it [the money], then I’ll decide how I will spend it,” he said.

Staten Island resident Salome Fuentes Pinzon, 40, won a top $1 million prize on the Pay Me scratch-off game. She’ll use her one-time, $517,123 after-tax payment to clear debts and buy a new house.

Her winning ticket was purchased at Deli on the Block at 172 South Ave. in Staten Island.

Additional reporting by David K. Li