Winning Lottery Ticket Found in Pile of Leaves

After New York was hit by superstorm Sandy, landscaper Marvin Rosales Martinez was clearing debris with a leaf blower when he came across a lottery ticket which changed his life.

The slightly wet “Win $1,000 a Week for Life” scratch card resulted in Martinez being awarded a $1 million lottery prize last week, more than a year after he claimed the winning ticket.

Initially Martinez brought the ticket to a 7-Eleven but the store couldn’t verify it. In the end he had to go to the lottery’s Long Island Customer Service Center to have it verified by officials. This was followed by a length investigation to ensure the validity and ownership of the ticket.

According to a lottery spokesman, Lee Park, the investigation found no reason to believe that the ticket “wasn’t rightfully the property of Mr. Martinez. There was no report of theft or of a ticket being misplaced.”

Martinez chose to receive his prize as a one-time lump sum payment. He will receive a payment of $779,106 which will leave him with $515,612 after the required tax withholdings. He has said that he intends to share the prize money with his family.