Former Merokean wins $1M

Joseph Bianco, who lived in Merrick for more than 35 years before moving to eastern Long Island and then to Florida, said he recently saw his deceased father in a dream. In it, his dad, James, told him that he had “a golden opportunity.”

Soon after, on Jan. 15, Bianco spotted a “Golden Opportunity” instant-win lottery sign while making a pit stop at Galleria Stationery in West Babylon on the way to visit his stepson. He just had to buy a ticket.

Bianco, 80, said he normally plays Take 5, but he remembered the dream and purchased three Golden Opportunity tickets. One ticket yielded no prize, the other won him $10, and the final ticket earned him the grand prize of $1 million.

The East Meadow-born Bianco called Merrick home before he moved to Massapequa, Babylon and West Babylon. He worked for Hendrickson Brothers, a Farmingdale-based construction company, retiring 20 years ago and moving with his wife of more than 50 years, Gloria, also 80, to West Palm, Fla.

Bianco said that he waited until he arrived at his stepson’s house to scratch off his prize-winning ticket. His stepson walked into the room and asked Bianco what he was doing. “I’m scratching this off. I just won a million dollars,” he replied.

Gloria, who entered the room immediately after, said she did not believe her husband. “I didn’t believe him for a while,” she said. “I would have popped up in the air and said, ‘Oh, my God,’ but he didn’t.”

The couple drove to Mineola to the Lottery Claim Center, where they discovered the ticket was indeed a winner. “And that’s when I believed it,” Gloria said.

The Biancos will now receive annual payments of $25,000 through 2031. The couple received their prize money from New York Lottery Draw Team member Gretchen Dizer during a Jan. 26 news conference in Mineola.

With their fortune, the Biancos said they plan to sell their house and search for a bigger place farther south in Florida. “We want the warmer climate,” Gloria said.