Lido Beach friends win $8.3M Lotto jackpot

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The New York Lottery’s Yolanda Vega presented an $8.3 million check to a pair of Lotto jackpot winners from Lido Beach on April 26.

Elizabeth Kelly, 56, and Randi Bernstein, 63, have been friends for over 20 years but only recently started playing the lottery together, according to the New York Lottery.

“I buy the tickets and she checks the numbers,” Bernstein said. “It’s that simple.”

Kelly and Bernstein — who both work for the U.S. Postal Service — explained that their system worked smoothly.

“It was kind of a fluke-y decision we made in the last couple of months,” Bernstein said, a mother of two. “I’m not really sure why we started playing or why we chose Lotto.”

Bernstein spent $2 on four sets of Lotto Quick Picks for the March 18 drawing, and Kelly checked the numbers the next morning in the Sunday paper. When Kelly realized they were winning numbers, she immediately told Bernstein.

“I was in total denial,” Bernstein said, who bought the ticket at Rip’s Cards & Things in Oceanside. “I thought, ‘How could this be?’ And then there was a lot of crying.”

Bernstein and Kelly chose to receive their payment as cash, with each receiving a one-time payment of $2.7 million.

While Kelly isn’t yet sure how she’s going to spend her share, Bernstein said she plans to replace her old car and have work done on her home.