ALBUQUERQUE – At a family celebration Sunday, Anthony Moncayo Jr. revealed a $50,000 prize playing one of three Scratchers given to him as a Father’s Day gift.
“I was stunned,” Moncayo said to New Mexico Lottery officials in Albuquerque today.
The Santa Rosa resident received the lucky $5 “Crossword 5X” Scratcher from his own father, Anthony Moncayo Sr.
For the past 18 years, the Moncayo family has been exchanging Scratcher tickets at birthdays and holidays.
“Who doesn’t want a Scratcher?” the elder Moncayo said.
Daughter Katalina Moncayo also won a $50 Scratcher prize playing a ticket given to her by her father Sunday.
The lucky tickets were bought at the Circle K located at 1315 E. Will Rogers Dr. in Santa Rosa. Previously, the store has sold six large prize-winning lottery tickets ranging between $1,000 and $45,000.
The Moncayo family is no stranger to lottery good fortune. The winner’s wife and his younger sister both received Legislative Lottery Scholarships to attend college. Michelle Montoya studied speech pathology at the University of New Mexico, ultimately earning a master’s degree. Katalina is completing general education requirements at New Mexico Highlands University on her way to becoming a dentist.
“We’re the first generation in our family to go to college,” Anthony Moncayo Jr. said.
Legislative Lottery Scholarships
Since 1996, the New Mexico Lottery has raised $607 million for education and more than 90,000 students have attended college on Legislative Lottery Scholarships.
In the past 18 years, more than 220 students from Guadalupe County have received approximately $1.1 million in Legislative Lottery Scholarships.