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Madoff's prison number a lottery hit in NY
(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-03-25 16:16

NEW YORK -- Wall Street swindler Bernard Madoff is a lucky charm for one New York City construction worker.

Madoff's prison number a lottery hit in NY
In this March 12, 2009 file photo, Bernard Madoff arrives at Manhattan federal court in New York. The 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan issued its written ruling Friday, March 20, that Madoff will remain in prison until he is sentenced in one of history's largest frauds. [Agencies]

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Queens resident Ralph Amendolaro says he saw Madoff's prison number in a newspaper and had a good feeling so he played the last three digits of it in the state lottery's Numbers game.

It hit March 15, paying $1,500.

Lottery officials say other people had the same idea. The number combination 0-5-4 produced 501 winning tickets the Sunday after Madoff's guilty plea, up from 120 winners the previous day.

Madoff's prison registration number is 61727-054.

A lottery spokeswoman says people often play numbers they see on the news.

So many people played the flight number of a jet that landed safely in the Hudson River that the lottery had to halt sales.