By Nick Buglione
In just the last two months, not one but two North Bellmore residents have won the Lotto's $2,000 a week for life game from tickets purchased in an East Meadow convenience store and a North Bellmore market. The odds of winning are roughly 1 out of 5.2 million.
"It's really an unbelievable feeling," said Michael Scinto, a North Bellmore resident of the last 18 years, who won on Thursday, July 25. "At first, I thought maybe I read it wrong or something."
After checking with the cashier at the All Nite Express, the convenience store on Hempstead Avenue in East Meadow where he bought the scratch-off ticket, Scinto confirmed he had a winner.
"I had put $20 in the machine, and I hit on the second ticket," Scinto said. "I ran outside -- I got so excited -- to call my wife to tell her, and I forgot the $10 change I had in the machine."
Last week, New York Lottery Director Margaret DeFrancisco presented Scinto with his first check during a ceremony at All Nite Express and told him he could look forward to many more.
"As long as you keep living, we'll keep paying," DeFrancisco said. Scinto will receive his prize in quarterly payments of $26,000, less required tax withholdings, each year for the rest of his life. Either he or his estate is guaranteed to receive at least $2 million.
A business teacher at Mepham High School and baseball coach at Kennedy High School in Bellmore, Scinto said the thought of quitting the education profession hasn't even crossed his mind.
"I like my job; I'm not ready to go yet. This [win] will just make it a little less tense, less stressful," he said. "Hopefully, some of this luck will rub off on my baseball team."
Scinto, who has taught in Bellmore-Merrick schools for the past 25 years, even plans to continue working as a supervisor at Pierce Day Camp in Roslyn over summers.
"My summer job boss asked me if I'm working there next year, and I said, 'Yeah, only I'll be driving a different car.'"
He does, however, plan to replace his wife Alison's diamond engagement ring that was lost some time ago during a trip to Jones Beach.
"We always wanted to get another, and now we have a little extra money to do it with," Scinto said.
Although she's looking forward to the new ring, Alison told the Herald that at first she didn't believe her husband when he called to tell the news.
"He called from the car phone, and he said, 'I think I just won $2,000 a week for life,' and I said, 'Yeah, sure,'" she said.
Even after his big win, Scinto explained he intends to regularly play the Lottery and its instant-win, scratch-off games.
"I play a few times a week," he said. "I've been playing since I won. In fact, I won $50 last night."
While he now follows a ritual of playing at night, Scinto said the day he won he had an inexplicable desire to play in the late afternoon after work.
"For whatever reason, I stopped off from work that day," he said. "I had an urge to buy one. I don't know why."
Scinto is the 10th winner of the $2,000 a week for life game, since the New York State Lottery started it in October 1999. Amazingly, the person who won it before him was North Bellmore resident Irene Komorowski just a month earlier.
"It's really kind of neat that we had two in a row, which is a fairly rare occurrence," DeFrancisco said.
Komorowski, who bought her winning ticket at the Masone's Family Market Place on North Jerusalem Road, split her prize with daughter Kim Smolowitz. Neither Komorowski nor Smolowitz could be reached for comment.
Joe Borchick, owner of Masone's, said he's noticed more customers wanting to buy Lotto tickets at his store since the two big wins.
"People are coming in all the time now," he said. "We've never had someone win a prize that large from our store before."
Meanwhile, thanks to Scinto's win, Jonas E. Salk Middle School in the Levittown School District will receive $1,000 in computer equipment donated by the New York State Lottery as part of its "Education Wins" program.
"Every time we have a winner of a million dollars, whether it's from the Lotto or it's from an instant ticket, we award $1,000 worth of computer equipment to a school near the residence zip code of our winner," DeFrancisco said.
