If the first winner of the “$1 million a year for life” scratch-off game seemed less than ecstatic yesterday, it’s because he wasn’t exactly struggling to scratch out a living.
Keenan Altunis, 33, a banker raised on Long Island and now living in London, accepted his prize with a smug shrug, noting he’s already a multimillionaire.
“Is it going to materially change my life? No,” he told The Post. “I have been a very blessed and fortunate person.”
And if that isn’t an argument for spreading the wealth around, how about this: Since he lives in Britain, Altunis, an executive at the European banking firm Unicredit, will have to pay New York but not federal taxes on his winnings, which means he’ll net $931,500 a year for the rest of his life.
Under a US treaty with Britain, income from lottery winnings and several other sources is not subject to taxation for British residents. Altunis is not an American citizen.
The first grand prize in the $30-ticket drawing comes with a minimum payout of $20 million, should something unforeseen happen to Altunis, who just celebrated his fourth wedding anniversary and has a 1-year-old daughter.
Altunis and his family emigrated from Turkey when he was 5 years old and he graduated from Massapequa HS and the University of Pennsylvania before moving to London for a career in finance.
On a trip home to New York last month for a wedding, he gave his mother $100 to buy him tickets for the newly advertised game before heading to the airport. His mother tossed in another $20 and bought four.
“I knew there wouldn’t be time that weekend to buy tickets for myself, so I left enough money with my mother to buy three before leaving for the airport,” said Altunis. “It turned out to be the best return on any investment I’ve ever made.”
After discovering she had a winner, his mother kept the ticket under her mattress for days until Altunis could make the trip home.
“She called me up and said, ‘You’re not going to believe this,’ ” he said. “At first, I didn’t.”
Since the scratch-off games are “bearer devices,” it does not matter that he did not buy the tickets himself, officials said. In fact, it makes sense in this case to give the prize to a younger relative to maximize the award.
“I am in fine health,” he said. “I also don’t do anything risky – I don’t do bungee jumping or stuff like that.”
Altunis said that part of his desire to downplay his winnings is the current economic crisis, which has caused his industry and many of his friends a great deal of strife.
“It’s very unfortunate to see friends losing their jobs,” he said. “We are all feeling the pinch a bit. This has been one of the toughest times in the world, so the win for me is bittersweet.”
Lottery winners often say that they will not allow their newfound fortunes to change who they are, but in Altunis’ case, that isn’t such a stretch.
“Don’t get me wrong, no matter how rich anyone is, a million a year is a lot of money,” he said. “But I don’t expect this to change my life very much at all.”
The family left New York yesterday for a vacation in the Caribbean – one that had already been planned and paid for prior to his winning ticket.