For Gary Pyndus, helping out a friend in need was well rewarded.
Pyndus, a self employed carpenter, is the first 2010 Albany County $1 million winner in the New York Lottery, and he bought the lucky ticket while waiting for takeout to be prepared from a Delmar eatery to bring back to a friend just out of the hospital, according to Lotto officials.
The Latham resident purchased the $1 million scratch off ticket at the Hannaford in Elsmere’s Delaware Plaza by cashing in other winning tickets. No stranger to scratch offs, he was still taken aback when his One Million Bucks ticket showed its prize.
`I saw the $1,000,000 on there and I started shaking. I made it to my car somehow and just sat there, shaking. I signed the ticket in the car and then called my mom. I was still shaking when I got home,` said Pyndus in a NY Lottery release.
The `One Million Bucks` payout will be distributed in $50,000 annual payments, less taxes, for 20 years. The annual net check will be $35, 015.
Rather than purchase a new sports car with his winnings, as he had planned, Pyndus said he would buy a used car and pay down his debt. Other than that, he’s looking forward to taking his daughter to Disney World.
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