Lightning never strikes …. three times?
Well, maybe.
But don’t tell that to Wayne Murray, the Brooklyn man who twice in two years won $10 million prizes in separate scratch-off games — he’s still pursuing his next big payout.
Murray was spotted by a Post photographer heading to his lucky store this week and handing over hundred dollar bills for a range of tickets, twice in the same day.
A clerk at the H&A Gas & Convenience on Avenue H in Flatbush — who sold Murray one of his winning tickets — told The Post that even though Murray is a millionaire, he still spends up to $500 a day playing the lotto.
“He’s still buying tickets almost every day, sometimes twice or thrice a day,” Hassan Nabil, who recently left his job at the gas station, said. “He diversifies — buying different types of tickets to find more possibilities of winning.”
“Sometimes he breaks even, but he does lose a lot of money … the way he plays, it’s clear he thinks he’s going to win more. He’s determined.”
Of course, it’s hard to blame Murray for thinking he can snag another winner, despite the lottery’s endless string of defeated would-be millionaires.
After all, he won $10 million in August 2022 while playing the Black Titanium scratch-off game, according to New York Lottery officials.
And in December, he snagged another $10 million playing the 200X scratch-offs, they added.
After taxes, this left a combined pot of more than $12 million, lotto officials said.
Murray bought both $30 tickets at H&A — but told The Post in December he was trying to avoid the limelight, despite his big wins.
“Some of us just like to be discreet. I just want to be discreet, that’s all it is,” he said, adding that the mammoth winnings left him feeling humbled and liberated.
Murray — who declined to comment for this story — still lives in the same three-story brick home in East Flatbush where he’s spent most of his life, neighbors told The Post. His only obvious splurge seems to be the $200,000 Range Rover he now drives.
“He’s a beautiful person, a humble person,” Constance Bryane, his 75-year-old neighbor, said in December. “He’s not flashy.”
Murray may play for fun and enjoy the routine of getting scratchcards, but an addiction expert warned his habitual behavior exhibits red flags.
“He thinks that if I win enough money, someday I could stop. This man won a lot of money, and he didn’t stop. If it was about money, he would have stopped,” said Thomas Gagliano, a recovering gambling addict and author of “The Problem Was Me: How to End Negative Self-Talk and Take Your Life to a New Level.”
Nabil said at the time that the new-money millionaire is a gas station regular who keeps playing the scratch-offs just because he enjoys them.
“It’s a game for him, so he just keeps playing,” Nabil said.
“He’s very friendly with the locals and very generous with his time,” he continued. “Money changes a lot of people, but he doesn’t show off or anything. He keeps it real, keeps it honest.”
Sarah Wilson is your guide to the latest trends, viral sensations, and internet phenomena. With a finger on the pulse of digital culture, she explores what’s trending across social media and pop culture, keeping readers in the know about the latest online sensations.
