Lottery winner gives winning ticket to his church

PORT JEFFERSON STATION, N.Y. (AP) - A New York pastor says one of his congregants has donated a winning lottery ticket worth 3 million dollars to his church on Long Island.
    Pastor Bert Crabbe of the True North Community Church in Port Jefferson Station says the donor, who asked to remain anonymous, donated the “Ba Da Bling” scratch-off ticket immediately after realizing that he’d won. The Reverend Crabbe says the donor believed “this was why God put the ticket in his hands.“
    A New York state Lottery official says the church will get a little over $100,000 a year through 2028. The amount could be higher if withheld taxes are refunded because of the church’s nonprofit status.
    Crabbe says the 650-member church will give the first year’s proceeds to other ministries including Love 146, which battles human trafficking and slavery.