The Lord Provideth: Woman wins $1million Lotto jackpot after atheist son prays for prize



A non-religious son who mockingly prayed for God to let his mother win the lottery was stunned after she hit the $1 million jackpot the next day.

Sal Bentivegna, 28, jokingly prayed for his 61-year-old mother Gloria to win the lottery after she lost money at a casino on a family trip to Atlantic City.

Miraculously Mrs Bentivegna then won the New York Lottery's Sweet Million game and will receive $50,000 a year for the next 20 years.



Divine: Mrs Bentivegna scooped her $1 million win after a sarcastic prayer from her atheist son

Speaking to the New York Post, Mr Bentivegna told how he sarcastically told his mother to 'ask your God to ask for a million dollars,' shortly after she lost out on a penny slots machine.

Being a good Catholic, she refused.

So instead Mr Bentivegna went ahead and prayed: 'God, I don't know if you're real or not, but if you are there, please let my mother win a million dollars.

'It was off the cuff at the slot machines,' he added.

'If Jesus wants me to believe in him, that's what he'll do.'

The very next day Mrs Bentivegna bought a 'lotto tree' of unscratched instant win tickets from a Church charity auction and struck gold.

The seemingly devine intervention has seen Mr Bentivegna become a believer.

He said: 'Lo and behold, she gets it the next day. I sat back and thought about it and realised the odds against this are astronomical.

'I can't shrug off that Jesus had a hand in it. No pun intended, it was a Godsend.'