Edie Bresler
NEW YORK (AP) - A New York man who stumbled upon an orphaned $1 million lottery ticket a month after Superstorm Sandy has finally been awarded the prize money.
New York Lottery officials cut 27-year-old Marvin Martinez a check Friday for the winning ticket he found raking leaves last November in the wake of the storm.
A state gaming commission spokesman tells the New York Post (http://bit.ly/1ae09CD ) an investigation failed to identify anyone who claimed the scratch card was stolen or reported it missing.
Martinez, who immigrated to New York's Long Island from El Salvador six years ago, took a lump sum payment of $779,106. After taxes that comes out to $515,612.
The landscaper, who still lives with his mother in a storm-damaged home, tells the newspaper he'll keep working six days a week.
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Information from: New York Post, http://www.nypost.com
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