18-Year-Old Wins $1,000 A Week For Life From New York Lottery

A Brooklyn high school senior got a graduation gift today that will keep on giving, and giving, and giving – for as long as he lives.

Robert Salo, who is just 18, won the “Win $1,000 a Week for Life” scratch off game and came forward Tuesday.

That means Salo could collect more than $3 million before taxes if he lives to be 80 – the average life expectancy in the city.

“This is the first thing I’ve ever won,” said a grinning Salo, who is graduating this month from James Madison High School. “It’s a good way to start out life.”

Is it ever.

It’s also a big reversal of fortune for his mom, who was wondering how to make her son’s college dreams come true: “We were kind of worried about paying for college,” Salo’s mom, Rabia, said. “I said if I had to work two jobs I would do it, but he’s going to the school he wants.”

Now neither son nor mother have to worry about that. But first, Salo’s getting some wheels.

“I’m definitely going to use it for college,” he said without specifying which higher ed institution he’s headed toward. “I’m going to invest in myself.”

Then, joking, he added, “Hopefully a nice car – something in my price range.”

Salo – who lives in Sheepshead Bay with his mom, a sibling and an uncle – was on the way to collect another set of wheels when he struck it rich May 15.

The family’s 2001 Volkswagen Jetta had been stolen and they were heading to the pound to pick it up, he said.

Salo said when they stopped at the BP station at the corner of Avenue T and Coney Island Avenue for gas, he bought a ticket.

“When I scratched it, I couldn’t believe it,” he said. “I thought it was a fake ticket. I had to ask them to pull over – I couldn’t drive and show them at the same time.”

Salo said the whole experience of winning so much money was surreal.

“It felt like I was in a dream,” he said. “Even after a couple of days it felt like a dream. I couldn’t sleep. I was just walking around at home. I wasn’t hungry or anything.”

Rabia Salo admits she’s biased, but she believes fortune couldn’t have smiled on a nicer young man.

“I’m excited for him,” the happy mom said. “He deserves it. He’s a good kid.”

Salo also appears to be the youngest person to win the Lottery’s grand a week for life contest. In May, 21-year-old Pedro Pablo Martinez Jr. won the prize.

{NY Daily News/Matzav.com Newscenter}