Lynn store sees 2nd million-dollar lottery winner in 10 months

LYNN – Even with all the talk of casinos coming to the area, the luckiest place in town seems to be a Lynn convenience store, which had two people win million-dollar prizes off tickets bought there in the last year.?Last March someone won $1 million, and last week someone got another million,” said Mohamad Belal, owner of Richdale Store on 229 Broadway.Last week?s winner, Robin Keighley of Lynn, exercised the cash option, meaning she took home a check for $650,000 before taxes, said Lottery spokesperson Lisa McDonald.A man named Toan-Dihn Vo, also of Lynn, won $1 million off a Billion Dollar Bonanza card on March 10, 2011, which McDonald said is paid out over 20 years.Keighley didn?t scratch off the $5 Holiday Bells card she purchased while still inside the store on Jan. 13, but Belal found out what had happened when a representative from the State Lottery came to present him with a sign to display in the store, along with his take – 1 percent of the prize, or $10,000. Belal also received 1 percent of the prize in March.?I?ve been here almost 12 years and never had a lottery winner, and this year two in a row. It?s been a good year,” Belal said.McDonald said it?s not that unlikely for stores to have multiple winners, even in such a short span of time.?We have a lot of really lucky stores, and we?re delighted when it happens,” she said.A phone number listed under Keighley?s name had been disconnected at press time.Taylor Provost can be reached at [email protected].