Better late than never!
An 83-year-old Bronx resident who plays the New York Lottery every day can finally experience champagne wishes and caviar dreams now that he’s hit the jackpot to the tune of $11.5 million.
Leroy Beckford, a former taxi driver from Jamaica, struck gold last month when he hit the “Lotto” jackpot with Quick Pick numbers at a local grocery store.
“I’m feeling good!” he told the Post after a press conference at Resorts World Casino on Tuesday. “Happy, happy about it!”
Beckford played some form of lotto every day, and his persistence paid off on July 5 at 7 & 7 Deli and Grocery on East 241st Street.
When the winning numbers were displayed later that night, he couldn’t bear to check for himself to see if he won, so he asked one of his friends to check the results.
“I was in total shock,” he said. “I just couldn’t believe it, and then I called my daughter to tell her the good news.”
Beckford’s winning numbers were 05-09-23-34-44-59.
Instead of spreading out his jackpot payments, Beckford chose to take the fast lane and receive his winnings in one lump sum, which turned out to be $4,591,672 after required withholdings.
“I’m excited for him,” his daughter Michelle told the Post. “I want him to live the rest of his life happy.”
The 36-year-old also said she thinks she knows what her father may choose to buy in his first purchase as a millionaire.
“He all the time wishes to have a Lexus,” she said. “And someone to drive it for him.”
But there’s something else that may be on Beckford’s mind now that the eligible bachelor just hit the jackpot.
“He might go off and get a wife,” Michelle added.
Beckford lives with Michelle and are the only two members of their family in New York. He said he plans to leave his daughter whatever money he has left when he dies.