2 Long Beach Lottery Winners New Millionaires

Michael Fuchs, 58, an IT specialist from Long Beach, won $1,000,000 from the May 2 Mega Millions drawing. He said he’s been playing the same numbers for so long, he can’t remember why he picked them.

“I know a couple of the numbers are for my girls’ birthdays, and there might be an anniversary, but I think I picked a couple at random just to fill in the blanks,” he said.

Fuchs purchased his ticket on his way home from work at Point Sunko Corp. in Point Lookout. He didn’t realize he was a big winner until he went through his mail on Saturday evening and ran across the winning numbers on a printout he’d picked up earlier.

“I was sitting in my chair and I saw I had the first five numbers,” he said. “I double-checked and double-checked some more and kept thinking, ‘OMG! OMG! OMG!’” He called his daughters, both in their twenties, to share the news. 

Fuchs will receive his prize as a lump sum of $661,800. The winning numbers were 1-18-26-35-40 and Megaball 13. When asked what he’ll do with his winnings, Fuchs said, “My daughters know I’ll take care of them. That doesn’t always mean buying them things; it just means I’ll always put them first.”

In addition, Andrew Noble, 36, of Oceanside, is the first New York State winner of the top prize on the brand new scratch-off game Million Dollar Winner, which was first issued at the end of April.

The freelance video editor received the lucky ticket in a birthday card from his mother. When he saw the automatic win symbol, his initial reaction was disbelief.

“I was petrified that someone would tell me this wasn’t for real,” he said.

The ticket was purchased at Rip’s Cards & Things at 3556 Long Beach Road. To be sure, Noble and his mother returned there, brought the receipt as a precaution and verified the win with the clerk. Then, he went home and immediately stashed the ticket.

“I hit it in my record collection,” said Noble. “Somewhere between some Inca harp music and an ambient noise compilation.”

Noble will receive 20 annual payments of $50,000 each, which will look something like $33,000 a year after taxes. As for his mother, she plans to continue giving lottery tickets as gifts and plans to do so for her husband this Father’s day.