Brothers Claim $5 Million Scratch-Off Jackpot, 6 Years After Buying Ticket

SYRACUSE, NEW YORK- Two brothers from central New York have finally claimed a $5 million lottery prize for a scratch-off ticket that they bought at their parents’ store in Syracuse six years ago, said state officials.

According to NBC News, Andy Ashkar, 34, of Camillus, and his brother Nayel Ashkar, 36, of Cicero, finally came forward to collect their winnings on March 1. They came forward just 11 days before the top prize in the “$500,000,000 Extravaganza” scratch-off game would have expired.

Unlike winning tickets for games such as Lotto and Mega Million that expire in a year, winning tickets for scratch-off games expire a year after that certain game is retired. The Extravaganza game was retired on March 12, 2011, lottery spokeswoman Carolyn Hapeman said.

The New York lottery says that the younger brother decided not to claim the winnings right away because he didn’t want the jackpot to affect his life and influence it in a negative way. He wanted to make sure he was properly prepared before being publicly introduced as the winner. Andy also told the agency that he didn’t want the jackpot to influence his engagement and subsequent marriage.

The mother of the two brothers, Was Ashkar, said that her husband, Neyef Ashkar, sold Andy the ticket at the couple’s Green Ale Market, but she could not remember specifically when.

Was Ashkar stated that the couple immigrated to the United States from Jerusalem nearly 40 years ago and have owned the store for the last 12 years.

It is routine for the agency to conduct an investigation whenever a winner is related to the owner of the store that sold the ticket. The investigation determined that Ashkar’s scratch-off ticket was bought legitimately, Hapeman said.

The Ashkar brothers will be introduced at a news conference at a later date, the lottery spokeswoman said.