BY SHAYE WEAVER | During an Aug. 5 drawing of the New York Lottery, a Manhattan resident discovered he had the winning numbers for a $7 million jackpot. “It’s surreal,” the winner, Stephen Deiro of Manhattan, said. “I knew I would win one day. I always play the same numbers.” Deiro went to the Lex & 103rd Inc. bodega at Lexington Avenue and 103rd Street in East Harlem and used the numbers, 09-19-24-34-56 on Cash Ball 3, according to the New York Lottery. Deiro decided to get his prize in annual installments of $365,000 ($231,060 after taxes) annually for the rest of his life. “First, I plan to make sure my family is taken care of,” he said. “Then I plan to make some investments. Possibly real estate.” Deiro is the 75th New York Lottery player to claim a prize totaling at least $1 million this year, according to the New York Lottery. Between 2018 and 2019, the New York Lottery contributed $1,263,968,814 in Lottery Aid to Education to school districts throughout the five boroughs of New York City.
