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发帖数: 2053 | 1 http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_localsfo/20101007/ts_yblog_localsfo/san-jose-woman-receives-surprise-1-million-lottery-check
By San Jose Mercury News san Jose Mercury News – Thu Oct 7, 6:24 pm ET
Lisa Fernandez
When Judith Tate showed up at Ron's Liquors in San Jose today for a "
community party" to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the California Lottery
, she thought she might win $1,000.
Instead, the 64-year-old retired accounting supervisor was handed a check
with three extra zeros. Yup. A cool $1 million.
"Oh my God," Tate repeated in front of a gaggle of lottery executives, some
of them tearing up just like her. She buried her face in her hands, and then
turned to her 41-year-old son, Will Moore, and buried her face in his chest.
"You OK?" he asked his mother. Then he gently instructed her: "Breathe.
Breathe. Breathe."
Tate caught her breath for a moment, her cheeks still flushed with
excitement.
"This does not say $1,000!" she said, faking outrage and fanning herself
with her fingertips. "This is surreal."
As she does regularly, Tate recently bought a $5 Scratcher ticket from the
liquor store on Flickinger Avenue. But she didn't win.
So Tate re-entered her serial numbers online at www.calottery.com/replay as
part of the lottery's Replay game, which started in 2009 and randomly draws
winners from these used tickets, according to lottery spokeswoman Kelly Kell
. So far, 1.7 million Californians have entered the Replay
draw, Kell said, and until now, winners have only received prizes of $1,000.
Kell said lottery officials lured Tate to today's celebration under the
guise that she, too, was just a regular Replay winner.
But Tate's Scratcher card was special. It was randomly chosen as the grand
prize draw, the biggest Replay amount the lottery has ever given away in
this game of second chances. Tate becomes the 1,960th millionaire created by
the lottery since it began operations on Oct. 3, 1985, according to lottery
literature.
As for her plans on how she'll spend the money, Tate could barely breathe,
let alone think clearly about what she'll do.
"I don't know,'' she said, adding that she had actually never really thought
she'd win a lottery prize that big. She couldn't even decide whether she'd
dine out tonight. She called her husband from the party to tell him she won,
and even though it was hard to hear him over the screaming in the liquor
store, she thinks he told her "congratulations." He's very private, Tate
said. But, she joked: "You'd think he would have left work."
Tate brought two of her three grown children with her. Her son, Brandon, a
Marine, didn't attend, as he has recently returned from a tour of duty
overseas. But she brought Moore and daughter Michelle Tate, both of whom
said their mother is a giving, loving woman who deserves this prize.
Moore said he wants his mother to travel, as she has spent her entire life
helping others, no questions asked.
"We're going to enjoy watching her spend her money," Michelle Tate said.
Contact Lisa Fernandez at 408-920-5002
Photo caption: Judith Tate, 64, of San Jose, reacts to winning $1,000,000 on
a Replay scratch- off $5 ticket at a celebration at Ron's Liquors in San
Jose, on Thursday, Oct. 7, 2010. (Karen T. Borchers, Mercury News) |
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