lottery-win-28214Win by chance

18th January was the luckiest day in Jerry Kajfasz’s life as he won the amazing $10 million “Win for Life Spectacular” lotto jackpot.

Kajfasz had no idea that his Saturday ritual to go to Depew One Stop on Broadway to buy cigars and his favorite scratch-off New York Lottery tickets will change his life forever and put him in the gambling news headlines.

However, the clerk in the shop made a mistake and handed him a $20 “Win for Life Spectacular” New York Lottery ticket, which the customer returned and bought the scratch-off tickets he wanted.

The things that happened afterwards, led to Kajfasz giving a conference at the shop. He recalled that after he left the store he got thinking: “I kept winning on the scratch-off tickets. I won like seven in a row. I just got lucky, until I hit the big one.”

He had around $25 in his hands, so he decided to go back and buy the ticket that was handed to him by mistake, later calling it “the one that almost got away.” Jerry remembered that he told the clerk: “Give me that ticket you almost gave me by accident.”

$10 million mistake

Kajfasz scratched off the ticket, while he was still in the store, noticing a “10” as one of the winning numbers on the top, and a matching “10” among the numbers on the bottom. The biggest surprise tough came a bit later, when he saw the word “Life”, written below his matching number, meaning that he won $10 million.

Jerry-Kajfasz-28214Happy winner Jerry Kajfasz

Jerry said: “I just sat there and couldn’t believe it. I probably looked over the ticket half a dozen times.”

Kajfasz called his wife Anne and their two children, Jackie and Frank, right after he got his ticket validated. He decided to use a different tone than his usual calm one, in order to make it special.

Frank, the son, commented: “He wouldn’t tell me what happened”. Then he added: “Did you win the lottery?”

The father replied: “Well, I didn’t want to tell you this way.” And back on that lucky Saturday, when he decided to go back and buy the mistake ticket, instead of investing in online blackjack, he told his son: “Come over as soon as possible. I have some champagne.”

Dreams come true

This is how one mistake made the family from Lancaster very rich, with a guaranteed minimum of $10 million in total, or $10,000 a week for life, from the New York Lottery.

They had an option to choose how to collect its winnings. The sum that the parents are taking 86% and each of the children gets 7%. So the parents will get 19 annual payments of approximately $450,000 before taxes or almost $300,000 after taxes. Because the ticket was in the name of the son Frank, the family members will keep collecting even after the father passes away.

Future plans

After hitting the fantastic jackpot Jerry retired from his printing job in Amherst. His future plans include taking care of his family, as well as keeping his old promise to take his mother to her country of origin Poland, where she wants to visit some family members.

Kajfasz is the 14th Erie County resident who won at least $10 million from the New York Lottery. The first 13 lucky players won their prizes between 1988 and 2005, as per the lottery records. So there hasn’t been a big win in more than eight years.

Carolyn Hapeman, lottery spokeswoman, commented: “There’s nothing systematic to suggest that kind of trend. It’s just random luck.”

Jackie, the daughter, said lightheartedly: “We’ve always had a joke that he had a horseshoe… somewhere on his body.”