Man's Coffee Stop Yields $3M in Lottery Winnings

A Bellmore 7-Eleven proved to be a lucky store for a West Hempstead man.

Samuel Clemons, 40, of West Hempstead was on his way to his job with the Nassau County Department of Public Works on June 6 when he decided to stop at the 7-Eleven on 2680 Jerusalem Ave. for a cup of coffee. He also decided to purchase three scratch-off lottery games and one of these tickets proved to be a $3 million winner.

Clemons said he plays Set For Life scratch-off games a couple times a week, but said he thought “what the heck” and on this June 6 trip to the Bellmore 7-Eleven bought the new Three Million game as well. The Three Million game, which had just been released two days earlier, was the lucky ticket.

“People say you should try the new games,” said Clemons of his decision to buy the new scratch-off.

Clemons said he stayed calm after scratching off the inning ticket and went to work. He watched the NBA finals between the Miami Heat and San Antonio Spurs that evening to distract himself before claiming his winning ticket the next day at the New York Lottery’s Garden City Customer Service Center.

Clemons chose to receive his prize as a one-time lump sum of $2,520,000 (net $1,667,736).

“It will help me out a little,” Clemons said of his lottery win.

Clemons said he is going to take time to figure out to do with the money, but said plans on visiting his brother in the meantime.