The biggest lottery winners in Long Island history were unveiled today, when a financial analyst from California and his wife received a check for just over $101 million.
Daniel Bruckner, 35, and wife Christine, 36, won the $208 million Mega Millions drawing on Dec. 27 with $26 worth of tickets he purchased at a King Kullen grocery store in Middle Island. The winnings came to $101,440,236 after taxes.
The couple were visiting her relatives in Suffolk County and Bruckner went to buy groceries for dinner when he purchased the tickets.
“I just tried not to faint,” Bruckner said today when lottery officials awarded the check. “It’s all still very surreal.”
He said the couple plan to pay bills for now, including student loans. The past couple of years were difficult financially because Christine works in the hard-hit mortgage business.
“We just feel very lucky,” Bruckner said. “We’re going to try to maintain some normalcy.”