Powerball winner's luck gives new meaning to fortune cookie

NEW YORK -- Now that's lucky.

A 75-year-old Bronx woman is crediting a fortune cookie for her $2 million Powerball win.

Emma Duvoll, 75, told CBS New York station WINS-AM that her son bought Chinese food in Manhattan and when they got home "we opened the cookie, and the numbers looked attractive, so we played them."

"I used to play other numbers, and I never won anything, so these looked just as good as any other," Duvoll said.

The strategy sure paid off.

Five of those numbers matched the winning numbers in the Feb. 1 Powerball drawing. The winning ticket was purchased north of New York City in Pine Bush.

"I was surprised but pleased," Duvoll said in describing her reaction when she checked her numbers the day after the drawing.

Duvoll will receive a lump sum payment of $1,246,085 after taxes.

She said she plans to invest most of the money and is thinking of taking a trip to Switzerland to visit family.

Duvoll is one of four New Yorkers to recently win big playing the lottery.

Syeda Akther, 34, of the Bronx, won $5 million after her husband bought her a Set for Life scratch-off ticket. Joseph Brown, 60, of Brooklyn, won $1 million in the Feb. 8 Powerball drawing. Karen Axt, 53, of Manhattan, won $1 million in the Feb. 15 Powerball game.