“I've done the calculation and your chances of winning the lottery are identical whether you play or not.”
—Fran Lebowitz
By Alex P. Vidal
A FILlPINO resident of Queens in New York City was reported to have won $500,000 in a scratch-off ticket on February 24, reports reaching the Filipino community in Elmhurst said.
The winner’s identity wasn’t immediately released upon his request for security reasons, according to a certain “Indat”, an Indonesian who resides across the store where the Filipino winner purchased the winning ticket on Whitney Street in Elmhurst.
Indat said they thought the winner was a fellow Indonesian because he purchased the card in the store near the Indonesian community.
A certain Kent, also an Indonesian who resides in the Elmhurst neighborhood, reportedly relayed the information to some Filipinos on February 28.
Camilo Galinea Jr., a prominent Filipino-American living in the area, said it was the second time that a Filipino won big time in scratchcard in Queens in recent years.
A male employee of a cargo and remittance center on Roosevelt Avenue in Woodside, also won $1 million in the scratch off ticket from the New York Lottery six years ago.
“Umuwi kaagad sa Pilipinas hahahaha (He immediately went home to the Philippines hahahaha),” reported Galinea, 64, a former OFW in Saudi Arabia from Pasay City in the Philippines known in Elmhurst as “Jun Tawa” or “Laughing Jun.”
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“It was really meant for him,” said Mario Lena, a chess player from Iloilo City who lives in Woodhaven, referring to the Filipino who won the $500,000. “Basi dugay na ina sia naga taya kag this time naka jackpot gid (he must’ve hit the jackpot after playing scratch-off for so many times in the past).”
Lena, 57, admitted he was also a scratch-off enthusiast.
“Barato man lang abi ang ticket. Kon kis a kalingawan man lang (the ticket is affordable and I sometimes decided to purchase it for fun),” Lena said, who purchased $20 worth of scratch-off tickets prior to visiting his friends in the park on March 1.
Also called a scratchcard, scratch ticket, scratcher, scratchum, scratch-it, scratch game, scratch-and-win, instant game or instant lottery, a scratch off can be purchased in mini-stores and groceries.
Often made of thin paper-based card for competitions and plastic to conceal PINs, it’s a small card where one or more areas contain concealed information which can be revealed by scratching off an opaque covering.
The player has to find an amount of money three times under the scratch area to win in this scratch game.
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Applications include cards sold for gambling (especially lottery games and quizzes), free-of-charge cards for quizzes, fraudulent free cards encouraging calls to premium rate phone services, and to conceal confidential information such as PINs for telephone calling cards (otherwise known as recharge cards) and other prepaid services.
Two years ago, one Jason Pae, 27, won the guaranteed $5,000,000 jackpot prize on the popular “Set for Life” scratch-off ticket in Flushing. Pae purchased his winning “Set for Life” ticket at the Maruti 149 Corporation on 41st Street in Flushing while on his way home from work.
According to the New York Lottery, Pae was the 50th person to claim a prize totaling $1,000,000 or more this year.
Pae chose to receive his prize money in annual installments of $260,000 before withholdings and will receive a net check totaling $164,590 annually for the rest of his life.
(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor of two local dailies in Iloilo)
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