May 19, 2009 Staff Report
Degli Martinez, who won $65 million after purchasing a ticket at Sunnyside’s “Queens Mini mart” on Queens Boulevard, has just bought his family a home in Forest Hills.
Mr. Martinez, a long-time Woodside resident, worked as a maintenance worker at a Park Avenue apartment building at the time he won big.
In June 2007, he won the New York state Lotto jackpot, the largest single prize in the 30-year history of the state Lotto game. He purchased the ticket at Queens Mini mart but accidentally tossed it in the trash after finding out he’d won the jackpot.
After a series of investigations by the lottery officials, he was able to collect his prize amounting to $21,176,066 after taxes.
Martinez and his wife, Maria Martinez, bought a six-bedroom, 4.5-bath home on Jewel Avenue in Forest Hills for $1.425 million on April 28. The 3,274-square-foot home was built in 1925.
