New York’s biggest ever Mega Millions winner bought $432m ticket at pizza shop
It’s thought to be the largest ever win in New York City
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Your support makes all the difference.The biggest ever winner of a Mega Million’s jackpot in New York City was believed to have bought the ticket from a pizza shop in midtown Manhattan.
David Khirala, 55, told the New York Post that a customer brought the winning ticket from his Pronto Pizza shop on West 48th Street on Tuesday.
He said he would also claim a $10,000 (£7,326) share of the $432m (£316m) prize, which is thought to be the largest ever win in New York City.
Mr Khirala, who did not know the identity of the winner from Tuesday, said “a lot of people” had started to buy Mega Millions tickets from him on Wednesday after news broke of the $432m win.
He said he hoped the winner was a regular customer at the Pronto Pizza, and that it was his “first major win” at the shop, which is a block away from the Rockefeller Centre.
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“I’m happy for this person. With the pandemic and everything, probably they need it,” Mr Khirala said, hoping it “came at the right time for this person.” “Who knows if they have credit cards bills, kids to go to school……you never know,” he said.
Mega Millions told the Post that Tuesday’s win would amount to roughly $192m (£141m) after taxes, and that it was so big because a winner had not been drawn since 8 June, in Illinois.
CBS New York, meanwhile, reported that if the winner takes the prize in cash, it would amount to $315m (£231m).
Tuesday’s prize fell short of the $437m (£320m) that was won by a group of 23 co-workers from Long Island on New Year’s Day in 2019, which was the biggest ever Mega Millions win in New York state.
Mr Khirala told reporters that it had previously sold winning tickets worth $3m (£2m) and $1m (£732,535).
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