It turned out to be an exceptionally fortunate Friday the 13th for one man.
The winner of a $208 million Mega Millions jackpot was revealed Friday at a Middle Island supermarket where he bought the ticket while visiting family for the holidays.
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New York State Lottery officials presented 35-year-old Daniel Bruckner of California with his check at the King Kullen on Middle Country Road. He and his wife, a Long Island-native, said they have no idea what they’re going to do with the money.
“I went to the King Kullen store I normally go to when we’re on Long Island visiting family and friends,” the financial analyst from San Jose told reporters at a news conference with his wife, Christine, by his side. “I picked up food for dinner and saw how big the jackpot was so I decided to buy a ticket.”
The couple said it was surreal when they realized they had won. “It didn’t seem real,” he said.
Bruckner said he bought the ticket Dec. 26 using quick pick and opted for lump sum payment with a cash value of $153,279,293. After taxes, the net check came to 101,440,236.
He had $26 in his wallet after shopping for food, Bruckner told a swarm of media members and curious shoppers looking in on the press conference. So he made the decision to bet it all on the lottery, and “here we are,” said Christine.
The winning ticket contained the numbers: 23, 32, 33, 39, and 43. The Megaball was 8. This was the fourth time in two years that a customer purchasing a ticket at the King Kullen in Middle Island won more than a million dollars.
Bruckner discovered he was the lucky winner after he was woken up by his wife, who was told by her father that the winning lottery ticket was purchased at the King Kullen in Middle Island. So to “humor him” she went upstairs, woke him up and said, “jokingly ‘my dad thinks you won, go check your numbers.’” Bruckner went downstairs, picked up a print out of the winning number, started scanning his tickets when one-by-one the numbers started to line up.
Listen to Daniel talk about winning the lottery:
“I saw the eight of the [Mega Ball] and looked at all the numbers and they were just lining up and it just didn’t seem real and you just don’t believe it at all,” Bruckner explained.
He still didn’t believe it, Bruckner admitted. He doubled-checked the numbers on New York Lottery’s website, and then again over the phone. The realization that he was an instant millionaire started to finally sink in.
“We’re definitely hoping to do some good things with this money,” Bruckner said.
The couple said the hardest part about the whole experience was hiding the truth from their friends and family, especially when Christine’s family on Long Island would discuss who the mysterious winner was, but they couldn’t say a peep, she said.
“It’s very hard to keep a secret,” Christine added.
The Bruckner’s said they were “comfortable” financially before winning the lottery, but they started having their own share of troubles after Christine lost her job in the mortgage industry.
The couple said they haven’t quite figured out what to do with the money but said they were going to pay off school loans and other bills and then make a decision after their life returns to normal—if that’s possible.
“We have no idea what the future holds for us,” Bruckner said.
*This story will be updated
