Winning $202M Powerball Ticket Claimed

The sole winning ticket bought in Lindenhurst worth $202 million in last Wednesday’s Powerball drawing has been claimed, according to New York Lottery officials.

However, New York Lottery spokesperson Carolyn Hapeman .

Instead, she said told Lindenhurst Patch today, “We’re working on a date, place and time for the check presentation.”

The ticket was bought at Maulik and Chandni stationery store in Lindenhurst, but “the ticket was validated shortly before noon yesterday at our Garden City customer service center,” Hapeman added.

Customers in the lottery know, or who log onto the New York Lottery website, are aware that tickets worth more than $600 must be validated and claimed at a customer service center, said Hapeman.

And for amounts greater than $1 million, as in this case, the customer service center validating the ticket calls officials to alert them in addition to the system recording the validated ticket.

For amounts less than $600, a person with any winning New York Lottery ticket could go to any store where lottery tickets are sold to validate and claim the associated cash prize, she said.

The Quick-Pick ticket to a group of people working at Costco in Melville that made up a “lottery club.” That club may have included a lucky Lindy resident who purchased the ticket, .

And news that the jackpot was won at Maulik and Chandni had folks scrambling last week to find their tickets, .

"For a split second I said, ‘Did I play?’" said Mike Mancini of Lindenhurst. "I had a feeling it was you guys; you have a lucky store."

The winning combination was 8, 18, 38, 46 and 56, with the winning Powerball 31.

Mike from Lindenhurst says he'll make it a point to keep buying his lottery tickets at the Lindy card store.

"Absolutely, to see if lightning strikes twice," he said.