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Jul. 21--A 64-year-old Hempstead grandmother said she was inspired to become a millionaire after watching a Suffolk grandmother win the lottery last month.
Elouise Galloway bought Jubilee scratch-off tickets like the one that won $1 million for Imogene Gaffney of North Babylon. After three tries, Galloway became the first $3 million winner in the game's history and the first lottery winner in Nassau County this year. Galloway said she thought if one grandmother could win, she could too.
"It will change my whole life," she said. "This was a miracle that was needed. I was hoping every day ever since I saw the lady win on TV."
She purchased the $10 scratch-off ticket at Kiana Deli and Grocery on Harvard Street in Hempstead, six days before her birthday on July 2 and she claimed her prize July 12. She said she was so excited after discovering she won, that she went back to the store for proof. Galloway said it was indescribable when she got the proof she needed.
"I'm the happiest thing in Long Island right now," she said. "There's nothing I feel that I can't do right now."
Isidro Rodriguez, manager of the Kiana Deli and Grocery, said it feels good that Galloway is the first person in the neighborhood to win the jackpot. It was the first big jackpot ever won in the store, he said.
Odds of winning the $3 million jackpot are one in 4.28 million. Galloway will receive $150,000 installments annually minus tax withholdings.
Nancy Palumbo, director for the New York Lottery, said it was great that the jackpot prize is being given to a person who was inspired by another winner, she said.
"It couldn't have happened to a more deserving winner," Palumbo said. "It's great to be able to see people fulfill their dreams."
Galloway said she will start her new life by moving out of her upstairs apartment and finding a house in Hempstead or Uniondale. She said she plans to buy a car, take her four children and five grandchildren shopping and go to South Carolina to visit her brother. But there is still one more thing on her list that she wants to do.
"I'm going to get another Jubilee [ticket] today," she said. "I think I can win again."
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Copyright (c) 2006, Newsday, Melville, N.Y.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News.
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