‘Lucky’ NYC convenience store sold $476 million Mega Millions ticket

Metro

By Joaquin Contreras and Rich Calder

April 15, 2023 | 5:25pm

There’s a new King of Queens!

A mystery Mega Millions ticket holder struck gold at a Queens convenience store after matching all six numbers to win the lottery’s $476 million jackpot — and staff and customers there are now hoping some of the new tycoon’s luck will rub off on them.

“We’re feeling very happy. We’re excited, and hopefully, we sell more winning tickets,” Deepak Parek, a 42-year-old clerk at Liberty Beer & Convenience in Ozone Park, said on Saturday.

Rudy Pena, of Ozone Park, said he plays lottery games at Liberty Beer daily and is hopeful the store remains hot.

“I think it [improves my] chances, absolutely!” he boasted.

“Somebody told me at work, too, that somebody won the Mega here, and I couldn’t believe it.”

Rohit Patel, who is a business partner of the shop’s owner, called the store “lucky,” adding “it’s a good thing that someone won big in New York.”

The winning numbers for Friday night’s drawing were 23, 27, 41, 48, and 51 with the Mega Ball of 22.

The Megaplier was 2x.

The grand prize is the the 13th largest in the lottery’s history, according to the New York Lottery.

The cash option is estimated to be $253.1 million; the convenience store will receive $10,000 for selling the ticket.

Patel and Pena did not know who won the huge jackpot, but Patel said he had a similar experience five years ago when a Midtown store he then managed sold a winning Take5 ticket.

James Carlton, 36, from Brooklyn, predicted the winner’s “life has changed overnight” because “they’ll be able to do things now that they weren’t able to do.”

“They probably don’t want anyone else to know because all the people they went to school with and stuff will come out to ask and say they were friends,” Carlton said.

He also recited his own plan on how to spend such a huge score.

“If I win, I would change my family’s entire life and start a couple businesses, travel. I would just enjoy life and give back,” he said.

Hopeful millionaires have a 1-in-302,575,350 chance of hitting the Mega Millions jackpot, according to the lottery.

It is Mega Millions’ first jackpot winner since a $31 million winning ticket was sold in Massachusetts on Jan. 31.

The next drawing is set for April 18 with the current starting pot set at $20 million.