Uniondale man wins $10M in lottery scratch-off game for second time, officials say

Lightning may not strike twice, but New York State Lottery officials say a Uniondale man has won $10 million on a $30 scratch-off ticket for the second time in three years.

Juan Hernandez recently hit for the $10 million top prize in the lottery's $10,000,000 Deluxe scratch-off game, a ticket he purchased at the Stop & Shop store at 150 Fulton Ave. in Hempstead, officials said. Back in 2019, officials said, Hernandez also hit for a $10 million prize on a $350,000,000 Cash Spectacular scratch-off ticket.

In an online news release about Hernandez and his second big hit, lottery officials quoted him: "I'm still trying to spend the $10 million I won in '19."

Hernandez could not immediately be reached for comment Thursday.

According to the lottery website, the odds of hitting the $10,000,000 Deluxe top prize is 1 in 3,521,600. To date there have been two winners in the game, which has three top prize tickets still in play.

The other winner was a woman in upstate Wellsville, the lottery said.

It was unclear how many winning tickets were available in the $350,000,000 Cash Spectacular.

Both scratch-off games involve a $30 purchase price.

It was not immediately clear how much Hernandez pocketed after taxes for winning the Cash Spectacular top prize, but officials said he received a single lump-sum payment of $6,510,000 after taxes for his big win on the $10,000,000 Deluxe scratch off.

By John Valenti

john.valenti@newsday.com

John Valenti, a reporter at Newsday since 1981, has been honored nationally by the Associated Press and Society of the Silurians for investigative, enterprise and breaking news reporting, as well as column writing, and is the author of “Swee'pea,” a book about former New York playground basketball star Lloyd Daniels. Valenti is featured in the Emmy Award-winning ESPN 30-for-30 film “Big Shot.”