$521 million Mega Millions jackpot winner gets advice from man who won $200,000 at same New Jersey store
A single ticket in New Jersey won the Mega Millions jackpot of over half a billion dollars, according to a statement on the Mega Millions website.
It has yet to be announced who holds the ticket, which will bring an estimated prize of $521 million or $317 million in cash. New Jersey Lottery officials announced that the "one lucky ticket" was sold at a Lukoil station in Riverdale, a town in Morris County about 30 miles west of New York City.
A man who said he won $200,000 a few years ago at the same station wished the winner of the massive jackpot luck and offered some advice.
"Save it, invest it," Pat Matano told ABC News on Saturday.
Matano lives in the nearby town of Butler but said he buys his lottery tickets only at the Lukoil in Riverdale. "I pass about six stores to come here," he said.
He won big in December 2014, he said, garnering a $200,000 prize of which he said he received about $154,000 after taxes.
He said the first things that came to mind upon winning were to buy a jeep and pay medical bills outstanding from a major surgery he underwent.
Matano, who is on disability, said it has been good to have the lottery money as a cushion. Winning "just lets you live a little more comfortably," he said.
Another bit of advice to the Mega Millions winner, Matano said: "You'll have a lot of relatives, a lot of friends coming out ... Just do the right thing."
The Mega Millions prize from Friday night’s drawing is the fourth-largest in the game's history, with the record set in 2012 at $656 million.
The winning numbers were 11, 28, 31, 46 and 59, with a Mega Ball of 1.
Also Friday night, two tickets, sold in Ohio and Texas, matched the five white balls to win $1 million each.
