Newsstand Deli-Grocery (Anthony Fioranelli)
So close, yet so far.
While three lucky souls will split the largest lottery jackpot in history, collection of second-place winners who came thisclose to winning a piece of Friday’s record $640 million Mega Millions jackpot were slapping themselves silly yesterday for missing the big one by a single digit.
That one missing numeral meant the difference between a lifetime on easy street and $250,000.
“Arrrrrrghh! That could have been $640 million if only I had that one number!” said Diancai Zhou 38, the owner of Fuji Japanese Cuisine, a Forest Hills restaurant where a dozen staffers and their friends will split a second place prize.
After taxes, each of the dozen will take home just under $14,000.
“One number off — damn it!” said Ivy Song, Zhou’s friend and fellow pool participant, as she clenched her fists.
3 MEGA DREAMS COME TRUE … BUT ALAS, NONE IN NY
WHERE THE WINNING TICKETS WERE SOLD IN NY
“I feel lucky and unfortunate at the same time,” added the stay-at-home mom of a 9-month old boy and a 2-year-old girl.
The group got all five of the numbers, except the Mega Ball. Instead of the winning digit, 23, their Quick Pick ticket had a 39.
In all, there were 161 second place tickets sold across the nation, with 17 in the Empire State. Of those, 10 were sold in the five boroughs — four in Manhattan, three in the Bronx and one in each of the remaining boroughs.
“Why couldn’t I get that number? I’d travel the world and I wouldn’t have to think about money ever again. But this money will help me a lot,” said Song. “I’m going to splurge on my children.”
Her friend Gu Bin, who also had a piece of the action, laughed, but lamented, “It is a big difference. My $10 could have brought me $640 million.
“I am happy now — but I would be happier.”
Shiblu Sikder 40, co-manager of 113 News on Queens Boulevard, where the ticket was sold, said despite not hitting the big one, selling the $250,000 ticket was a rush.
“I’m definitely feeling great,” he said. “It’s good for our store. People are saying this the lucky store. These are our biggest wins so far.”
Amazingly, the same thing happened Tuesday at the store. In that Mega Millions $363 million drawing, a patron missed one number and won $250,000. Last year, the store sold a scratch-off ticket worth $25,000, Sikder said.
Sikder is hoping Tuesday’s winner would come to the store.
“I want to meet him, shake his hands. I buy sometimes, but I never win, so if I shake his hand I might get lucky.”
Yuki Guo, a 22-year-old accounting student who was in on the Friday bonanza, did show up, however. Jumping up and down, she shouted, “We won, we won! This is the lucky store!”
She said she plans to pay off her student loan, do some shopping, and give the rest to her mother.
Lottery vendors around town that sold the second place tickets were hoping to meet the customers that had just missed a mega payday.
“You could call this a lucky newsstand,” said Victor Patel, 24, the owner of Vaidya Newsstand, at 101 West 14th St. in Manhattan.
“It feels good to have a winner. Its great. I wish they had one more number and got the big prize. I wish we had a big winner!”
In Brooklyn, at the International Deli in Borough Park, owner Adam Lantigua said yesterday was the first time in the 11 years he’s owned the bodega that anyone has won such a huge prize.
“I’ve had winners before, but never for this much,” he said.
Outside of New York, three lucky ticket-holders in Illinois, Kansas and Maryland will share the largest lottery jackpot in US history, after about 1.5 billion $1 tickets were sold, lottery officials said.
Each winning ticket is worth about $213 million before taxes.
At least two of the winners’ tickets were “quick picks” — meaning a computer picked all six numbers at the drawing Friday night in Atlanta: 2-4-23-38-46 and Mega Ball 23.
Lottery officials said the lucky tickets were purchased at a 7-Eleven store in Milford Mill, Md., near Baltimore, and the Motomart convenience store in the southern Illinois farming town of Red Bud. Kansas has not released details yet of its winning ticket.
Here’s a rundown of the other prizes awarded, if you matched …
* Five numbers, not Mega Ball, but multiplier: 3 prizes of $1 million
* Five numbers, but not the Mega Ball: 1581 prizes of $250,000
* Four numbers and the Mega Ball: 897 prizes of $10,000
* Four numbers but not the Mega Ball: 40,423 prizes of $150
* Three numbers and the Mega Ball: 46,887 prizes of $150
* Two numbers and the Mega Ball: 780,589 prizes of $10
* Three numbers but not the Mega Ball: 2,086,571 prizes of $7
* One number and the Mega Ball: 4,669,851 prizes of $3
* Just the Mega Ball: 8,727,236 prizes of $2
Additional reporting by Sabrina Ford and Natasha Velez