Lottery's New Power Play Feature Nets Brooklyn Man $1.2 Million for Second Prize Win

First Time Powerball Player Wins $1,200,004 on Two Separate Winning Tickets

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Powerball Winner Eldon Scarlett

BROOKLYN, NY (05/18/2010)(readMedia)-- Eldon Scarlett, 26, of Brooklyn, Kings County, recently claimed two separate Powerball second prize tickets from the May 8th drawing earning him a $1,200,004 pay day for matching the first five numbers. Scarlett explained that his stroke of luck resulted from asking one simple question.

"What is Power Play?" asked the baggage supervisor at John F. Kennedy Airport. "This was the first time I played Powerball and chose my numbers at random. After I bought my first ticket I asked the clerk to explain the Power Play option. When I learned it gave me a better chance to win $1,000,000, I bought a second ticket using the same numbers only this time I checked off Power Play."

New York's Power Play is an optional multiplier feature available to all Powerball players. The feature, which costs an additional $1 per game, gives players a chance to multiply their winnings at the lower tier prize levels. Players like Scarlett who choose the Power Play option and match the first five numbers drawn, automatically win $1,000,000. Players who match the first five numbers plus the Power Ball win the jackpot. The winning numbers for the May 8th Powerball drawing were 5 22 34 41 57 and Powerball 31.

Scarlett's two winning tickets totaled $1,200,004. He will receive both prizes as a lump sum payment totaling $748,587 after tax withholdings.

"To be honest when I first checked the tickets I didn't think I won anything and almost threw them in the garbage. I scanned them in the store and to my amazement I was holding over a million dollars in winners," explained Scarlett. "I literally almost fainted when I realized the mistake I almost made. It certainly PAYS to double check," he joked.

Scarlett purchased his winning ticket on May 6th at Fine Fare on Remsen Avenue in Brooklyn. He claimed his prize on May 13th at the Lottery's Customer Service Center in Manhattan.

The New York Lottery continues to be North America's largest and most profitable Lottery, earning more than $39.3 billion in education support statewide since its founding over 40 years ago. The Lottery contributed nearly $2.67 billion in fiscal year 2009-2010 to help support education in New York State, which was over 12 percent of total state education funding to local school districts

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