New York's 'luckiest' store hits the jackpot yet again — sells its 8th million-dollar winning lotto ticket

An upstate New York store sold eight million-dollar winning tickets in a year and a half, making it one of the luckiest shops to buy lottery tickets in the entire Empire State. The nondescript Newburgh smoke shop, Smoke 4 Less, sold two million-dollar tickets this week alone which means eight winners bought their tickets from here in 8 months. According to reports, one person who bought the tickets from here won $1 million in a Powerball drawing on Monday.

The following day, another customer won $1 million in the Mega Millions drawing but went for the multiplier option, which doubled it to $2 million, the station reported. New Yorkers from beyond Orange County have been buying lotto tickets there. Many are now heading to the shop from far beyond the county to try their luck. "This place is on fire without a doubt," Jack Feeley, told ABC 7 after making the over two-hour drive to Smoke 4 Less.

Feeley and his friend Bob Accurso told the publication that the shops near their place hardly sell winning tickets. "The place I go to, nobody wins," Accurso said. "So, maybe I should go to a different place, which is what I’m doing," he added. "A lot of my friends told me to come here," said another lottery player, Donna Garrison. "You gotta be in it to win it."

According to reports the owner of the ShopRite gets a $30,000 bonus for their role in the largest Mega Millions payoff in the state's history. "We're really lucky," said store owner Richard Saker. "Listen, if I were going to buy another lottery ticket, I'd be buying it here."

According to NBC, certain places sell more winning tickets as compared to others. Convenience stores that are typically connected to gas stations have sold the most winning Powerball and Mega Million tickets since 2021. From 2021 to 2024, gas station convenience stores were the number one seller of winning tickets which was closely followed by independent convenience stores. 

In California, five retailers are known for selling winning tickets in the state. For example, the Bluebird Liquor in Hawthorne ranks in the top five retailers for winning tickets in the state, having sold a total of eight winning tickets, including four Powerball and four Mega Millions, since 2021. Other stores include Joe’s Service Center in Altadena, and Las Palmitas Mini Market in downtown LA.

Having said that, when it comes to the lottery, no matter which game you play the odds of winning are slim. The odds of matching all six numbers for Mega Millions are 302.6 million and that doesn't change. Powerball on the other hand has slightly better odds with 1 in 292.2 million. 

Powerball has been revamped seven other times in the 23 years of history. The lottery continues to be attractive for players even after 2 long decades. Mega Millions on the other hand changed its rules for the third time in 21 years back in 2017 which made hitting the jackpot harder than ever.