The hot streak of customers playing the lottery at Lanzilli’s Groceria and Gas Station in East Boston continues. Last Tuesday a Winthrop resident went into Lanzilli’s to play Mega Millions and later that night became a millionaire.
Lanzilli’s Fuel owner Sonny Patel poses next to his Wall of Fame outside of the store that displays winning lottery scratch tickets that Lanzilli’s sold over the years.
James Griffin, who chose his lucky numbers based on birthdays of family members, purchased his winning ticket at Lanzilli’s Grocery.
Griffin’s win is the sixth prize of $1 million or more won on a ticket sold at Lanzilli’s since 2013.
“Before 2013 we sold three,maybe four, $1-million tickets in the 13 years we owned the store,” said owner Sonny Patel.
Patel said then in 2015 luck began to strike the location time and again.
“In 2014, we sold two $1-million tickets in one week,” said Patel. “Then we sold a $10-million ticket, that the following year.”
The $10-million scratch ticket win by Richard Noll of Revere was the story of the year in 2015. Noll needed to break a $100 bill so he could get lunch at the sub shop across Bennington Street from Lanzilli’s. He stopped in, purchased a scratch ticket to get change for the $100 and instantly became a multimillionaire.
Those two wins within days of each other and a $10 million win the following year was hailed a ‘rarity’ by Mass. State Lottery officials.
But this year alone Lanzilli’s has sold three $1-million scratch tickets to lucky winners so it seems to be the place to hedge your bets.
“We sell a lot of lottery tickets,” said Patel. “I’d say we are one of the busiest lottery agents in the neighborhood.”
In fact, the Mass State Lottery named Lanzilli’s the fifth busiest agent in the state. That is no surprise for loyal customers considering the back wall inside Lanzilli’s is lined with $1,000, $10,000 and even $50,000 winners.
Griffin’s win last week didn’t surprise Patel.
“I guess it’s rare but we have a lot of winners because we sell a lot of tickets,” said Patel.
By playing the Megaplier option for an additional $1, Griffin was able to triple a $1 million prize to a $3 million prize when the Megaplier number selected for this drawing was three. The Megaplier number can be 2, 3, 4 or 5 and applies to all prizes except the jackpot prize.
Griffin claimed his $3 million prize at the Mass State Lottery’s headquarters the following day. Griffin told lottery officials he plans to invest his winnings.
Lanzilli’s will receive a $30,000 bonus for its sale of the ticket.