Richard ‘Sonny’ Randazzo isn’t just one in a million—he’s one in 6.3 million.
Those were the 44-year-old doorman’s odds of winning the $5 million lottery jackpot on May 2.
“I just had itchy palms that day,” Randazzo said.
So he popped into the Mill Basin Mini Mart on Avenue T and picked out two $10 “Set for Life” scratch-off cards.
“I glanced at the tickets and picked out the one that struck me,” he recalled.
The first card wasn’t a winner. Undeterred, he moved on to the second. Jackpot!
“My reaction was just stars and stripes. I saw fireworks.”
Randazzo, who lives in a two-story house in Gravesend, said his good fortune won’t change his life.
“I have some big bodyguards around me, so I don’t worry too much,” he joked, referring to friend “Big” Lenny Ferrara, and his brother, Frank.
Randazzo plans to keep his $40,000 a year job at an Upper East Side building where condos can sell for $10 million, and cash his quarterly lottery checks of $65,000, before taxes. According to the New York State Lottery, Randazzo’s annual net check will total $41,926.
So far, he’s only made one modest purchase.
“I bought matching socks and a new set of underwear,” he revealed. “Every time I do the wash, one sock goes to sock heaven.”
In the future, he said he may look to buy a “motorboat with three propellers.”
According to lottery officials, Randazzo is the seventh lottery millionaire from Brooklyn this year. Colleen Losquadro purchased and claimed a $1 million prize from a scratch- off ticket on April 24 from the Mill Basin Convenience Store, just blocks from where Randazzo purchased his ticket.
Randazzo said he enjoys gambling, but never had this kind of luck.
“I couldn’t pick the winner in a one-horse race before this,” he said.
