$1 million scratch-off ticket sold in North Huntingdon

Someone who bought a Mining for Millions scratch off Pennsylvania Lottery ticket at a North Huntingdon gas station-convenience store last week is $1 million richer.

The Pennsylvania Lottery announced Wednesday that an unidentified person spent $20 at Bob’s BP Station at 11339 Center Highway for a Mining for Millions ticket that revealed the top prize. The winner has yet to step forward to claim their prize, but has a year to do so from the game’s end-sale date posted at palottery.com, the Lottery Bureau said.

Even before the Lottery Bureau announced Wednesday that a winning scratch-off ticket was sold, Vicki McDonald, store manager, said a man came into the store Tuesday and said his friend bought a $1 million winning scratch-off over the past weekend.

The man told her the winner, who lives outside the North Huntingdon area, stopped in the store to buy an ice tea and purchased the ticket. The man said his friend recently purchased a house and he was planning to buy another one, without even moving into the one previously purchased, McDonald said.

The fact that Bob’s BP Station sold the winning lottery ticket did not shock McDonald.

“It’s crazy. We’ve sold three top prize (Lottery) tickets in the past year,” McDonald said. “Everybody’s winning here,” she added.

It started with a woman won $100,000 on a $10 Xtreme Xword scratch-off in August 2020, McDonald said. On Memorial Day weekend, another buyer won $100,000 from a $5 Loteria scratch-off, McDonald said.

The store owner, Bob Dobariya, will receive a $5,000 bonus for selling the $1 million ticket. He received $500 bonuses for the previous winners, she said.

“We‘re going to be selling a lot of lottery tickets,” when people learn that a million dollar scratch-off ticket was sold at the store, McDonald said.

The Lottery said the prizes of more than $5,000 are subject to withholding taxes.

It was the second win this week for Dobariya, although no one paid him for the first one.

On Monday, the Irwin Zoning Hearing Board granted Dobariya’s request to expand his Sunoco convenience store-gas station at 623 Oak St., so he could install a walk-in cooler. The project will mean Dobariya will extend the store by 12-feet-by-26 feet.

Dobariya asked the zoning board for approval to expand the non-conforming use of a commercial property that is in a district zoned for residential housing. Dobariya did not attend the meeting to testify because he was on vacation, a store employee told the zoning board.