Oklahoma Resident Collects $27 Million

November 14, 2002

During a road trip, if a kid needs to go to the bathroom, make sure to stop right away. For Darrell Thompson of Ada, Oklahoma, that's one stop he'll never regret. Today, Thompson became the sixth Oklahoman to collect a Lotto Texas jackpot and the biggest Lotto Texas jackpot winner from the Sooner State. The Oklahoma resident won the $27 million Lotto jackpot from the Saturday, November 9 drawing, and collected $17,382,404, the Cash Value amount of the jackpot prize.

"A group of parents including myself were taking a group of kids to a Dallas Mavericks basketball game," said Thompson. "One of the boys in the group told my friend (Frank Stout) that he had to go to the rest room right now. So we pulled over to this little convenience store, and I felt bad for not buying anything, so I decided to buy 10 dollars worth of Quick Picks for the Lotto drawing."

Thompson said Stout stopped one more time before crossing over the state line. A clerk told him no ticket matched all six numbers for the Lotto Texas drawing that evening.

"Frank called me on the phone and said, 'I guess you can go ahead and throw away those tickets you bought, because no one won,' " Thompson explained. "He called again on Monday morning and told me that he heard a ticket had been sold in Sanger that matched all the numbers.

"He asked me if that was where we had stopped, and I told him 'I thought so, but I wasn't for sure.'"

It ended up being the place all right. The Horizon store, located at 901 N. Stemmons Street in Sanger, benefits from Thompson's timely stop as well. The retail owner is eligible to receive a bonus of one-percent - $270,000 - for selling the jackpot winning ticket.

Thompson explained he got the numbers from Stout and compared those to the ones on his tickets.

"My eyes went straight to the '4' and then the '17' and then the next number and the next number," he said. "I asked my assistant to take a look. She said, 'I don't know what this means, but it's got to be good.'"

Thompson decided to buy an USA Today and get the numbers just to make sure they matched. He said he went home and showed his wife Doree the newspaper and the ticket and asked her to compare the numbers too.

The couple said they haven't made any specific plans with the money, other than a new house. "We've been looking for a while. I guess she could probably talk me into buying one now," he said. "My daughter told me she wants her own room, a SeaDoo and a pig. One of those pot-bellied ones, but I don't think she's getting one of those. One thing for sure, I guess I should buy that kid that needed to stop a snow cone or something."

As Thompson, an avid Oklahoma Sooner fan, was leaving lottery headquarters, he made two comments.

"Thank God, Mack Brown (University of Texas head coach) came to Texas, and can Mark Cuban (Dallas Mavericks owner) please get us better seats for a Mavericks game?"

The numbers drawn were: 32-37-34-21-17-04.

Madisonville Lotto Texas Winner's Life Already Perfect, But Win Made It Better

November 13, 2002

Leonard Jozwiak of Madisonville said one of his favorite pastimes made his perfect life a little bit better, if that's possible. Playing the Lotto Texas game has made him a millionaire. He holds the sole winning ticket for the October 9, 2002, Lotto Texas $9 million jackpot drawing.

The Texas Lottery Commission today paid JRJGJ Investments Ltd., $5,845,723, the Cash Value Option sum that is the net present value of the jackpot. Leonard Jozwiak is the president of Five JK Inc., the General Partner of JRJGJ Investments Ltd.

"Since I retired three years ago from welding, I spend my time catching (fishing), playing dominos, buying Bingo pull-tabs and playing the Lotto," he said. "It's perfect, but now I've got some money to give my 12 grandchildren for their college education."

The 65-year-old Jozwiak came to Lottery headquarters to claim the prize accompanied by his wife, Elizabeth, their five children and their spouses.

Mrs. Jozwiak said her husband was "real white" when he tried telling her his ticket had the winning numbers the morning after the drawing. His den TV has a vertical hold problem, so he couldn't get all the numbers down, and asked his wife to watch one of their other three televisions to get ascertain what they were.

"He looked like he was going to faint," she said. "I, of course, didn't believe it when he told me he had the winning ticket, because he's always saying that. I'd told him the night before his Quick Pick ticket had the weirdest numbers, but I guess they weren't so weird, after all. I had my own tickets with numbers based on my kids' birthdays, but they didn't come out this time. So, he made me watch the TV and get the numbers and read them to him as he was holding the ticket. If I didn't have a broken foot, I would've jumped for joy."

Madisonville is a town of approximately 3,600, so news travels fast. It was a matter of days before everyone knew he'd won.

"We've had to change our phone number," Mrs. Jozwiak said. "We got a lot of nice calls from people congratulating us, but we also got calls from people wanting to sell us something, so after 27 calls in three hours, we knew we had to go unlisted."

Jozwiak and his family celebrated by having a steak dinner at the Leona General Store that week. Aside from that, there aren't any big plans just yet to spend the money.

"I've got five super kids, and I'm going to be able to help them and especially my 12 grandkids with money for college," he said. "My life isn't going to change otherwise with this win. It was already perfect."

M S Sales is the retailer who sold Jozwiak eight Quick Pick tickets. The store, located at 401 South May Street in Madisonville, is eligible to receive a one-percent bonus of the advertised jackpot, which comes to $90,000.

The winning numbers were 29-42-22-8-11-5.

Houston Player Conducts His Own Drawings.
It Paid Off!

October 2, 2002

Dudley Babin of Houston gives a whole other meaning to the term "choosing your own numbers." The Houston resident has his very own drawing at home before the twice-weekly Lotto Texas drawing happens in Austin.

"I have a bag of ping pong balls with the numbers marked on them," Babin said. "I shake up the bag and pick the six numbers out."

Babin correctly picked all six numbers for the Lotto Texas jackpot prize from the Saturday, August 31, drawing, worth an estimated $19 million.

Babin chose the Cash Value Option and received $11,427,094 on Sept 27, 2002. Babin purchased the jackpot winning ticket at the 7 Days Food Store, located at 5203 Griggs Road. The retail owner is eligible to receive a bonus equaling one-percent of the jackpot amount, which comes to $190,000, for selling the jackpot-winning Lotto Texas ticket.

Including tthe 8-31-02 winner, there have been nine Lotto Texas jackpot-winners so far this calendar year from the Houston sales district, which encompasses 20 counties. Since January, the Houston Lotto Texas jackpot winners have won more than $67 million.

Today's winner requested minimum publicity.

The numbers drawn were: 32-36-37-40-41-43.

Granbury Winner Plans To Travel

September 30, 2002

Janie Slack knows exactly what she's going to do with her Lotto Texas winnings. She and her husband, Danny, of Granbury, plan to hit the road again, only this time, they'll do it in style.

Slack holds the only 6-of-6 jackpot winning ticket for the September 25 drawing, worth $4 million. Slack chose the Cash Value Option on her Quick Pick ticket, earning her $2,452,947 million before taxes. Slack came to Lottery headquarters in Austin today and received a ceremonial check for her winnings.

"When Danny and I first got married, I quit my job and went on the road with him," Slack said. She worked for the Fort Worth Police Department for thirteen years, and her husband has been a long-haul truck driver for 37 years. While the road beckons again, the Lottery winnings mean this time they can leave his big truck at home.

"You might say I'm semi-retired," quipped her husband, who turned in his resignation to his employer, L&W Paving, once he was certain the ticket was indeed a winner.

"We're going to visit friends in Washington State first," Slack said. "But we'll make a stop in Vegas on our way."

Slack found out she'd matched all six numbers when she came home from a job interview the day after the drawing.

"I usually wait until the Fort Worth Star-Telegram comes out on Friday to check my numbers, but something told me to go ahead and check the results right then," Slack said.

"I was excited because I thought I'd matched three, and then four, and then five numbers," Slack said. "I couldn't believe it when I saw I had all six."

When she told her daughter, Tina, that she had won the lottery, her response was, "What, you got a job? That's winning the lottery?"

Slack bought the ticket at Tommy's Food Mart, located at 7424 Fall Creek Highway in Granbury. The retail owner is eligible to receive a bonus equaling one percent of the jackpot amount, which comes to $40,000, for selling the jackpot-winning Lotto Texas ticket.

When she went back to Tommy's Thursday evening, everyone was talking about "the Granbury winner." She told the clerk she was the winner, but the clerk didn't believe her. It took some convincing, but when she went back into the store on Friday, word had spread that a "regular customer" had won.

As of today, there is one two Lotto Texas tickets outstanding. There has been no official contact from the ticketholder(s) of the $9 million Lotto Texas ticket from the drawing held July 13. The ticket was purchased in Dallas at the 7-Eleven store, located at 3329 Oak Lawn Boulevard.

The numbers drawn were 6-11-16-23-42-50.

Taft Lotto Texas Winner Says,
"I'm Real Lucky At Picking Lottery Numbers"

September 26, 2002

Ask 74-year-old Alvertia Carter to tell you something she's good at, and the long-time Taft resident will quickly say she's "real good at picking out those lottery numbers." Carter's number-picking prowess paid off. She correctly matched all six numbers for the Saturday, September 21, Lotto Texas drawing, worth an estimated $7 million.

"It feels so good," Carter said. "I kept telling my husband, 'I'm gonna win, I'm gonna win. He'd always say, 'No you're not.' "

Carter explained she has played Lotto since the game's inception, and used to spend $10 per week. "Then I got to thinking, I only have to win on one line, so I cut it down to $5 a week," she said.

Carter purchased the jackpot winning ticket at her favorite lottery retailer, Big Diamond #36, located at 302 Highway 181 in Taft. She said she always buys her tickets there, and called the store the morning following the Lotto drawing.

"I thought I had only gotten five of the numbers," she explained. "When I called to find out how much it paid out, I didn't think the girl was telling me correctly. She told me to come into the store the next day, and she would run my ticket through the machine.

"When I went in on Monday morning, she ran it through and told me, 'You have all six numbers,' " Carter said.

Carter and her husband, Lester, then drove to the Texas Lottery's Corpus Christi Claim Center to find out how to claim her jackpot prize. After speaking with lottery officials, she decided to claim the jackpot today. Carter chose the Cash Value Option and will receive more than $4.5 million, before federal taxes are withheld.

"That's a whole lot of zeros," she said.

Carter also said that while she has "a bunch of plans for the money, I will take the time to think about it."

"I'm so happy," she added. "Tears keep coming to my eyes."

The retail owner is eligible to receive a bonus of $70,000 for selling the jackpot winning Lotto ticket.

As of today, there are still two Lotto Texas tickets outstanding. There has been no official contact from the ticketholder(s) of the $9 million Lotto Texas ticket from the drawing held July 13. The ticket was purchased in Dallas at the 7-Eleven store, located at 3329 Oak Lawn Boulevard.

A second unclaimed 6-of-6 ticket was sold for the $19 million Lotto jackpot from the Saturday, August 31 drawing. That ticket was purchased at 7 Days Food Store, located at 5203 Griggs Road in Houston.

The numbers drawn were 32-10-35-47-06-19.

Austin Couple Collects $2.4 Million

September 18, 2002

Perhaps you've seen them as film extras in Spy Kids 2, and now Cathy and Jeff Slobojan of Austin have won some extra cash from the Texas Lottery Commission. The pair won the $4 million Lotto Texas jackpot for the drawing on September 11.

Friday the 13th turned out to be a lucky night for Mr. Slobojan to check his numbers. He had just booked his tickets on the Internet for a fishing trip.

"I'm going fishing off the coast of Belize with friends," he said. "It's lobster season over there. When you order bacon and eggs for breakfast, it comes with a side of lobster. That's what I was thinking about. Then, I remembered to check my numbers."

"He came into the bedroom screaming, 'We won the Lotto, we won the Lotto,'" Mrs. Slobojan said. "I was sleeping, and after getting that piece of information, I certainly didn't do much more. Then I got up and went to work at 6 a.m."

The couple say they've told their family, friends and workmates, and everyone has been elated for them.

"It hasn't changed things for us," she said. "In fact, I told my employers that this better not stop them from giving me a raise." She declined to name her place of employment.

Mr. Slobojan has taken care of the practical matters since last Friday.

"I put the ticket in the bank the next day," Mr. Slobojan said. "Since then, it seems all we've done is run around a lot."

The couple say they have no big plans to spend their money.

"We've already invested it," she said. "We're not getting anything we didn't already have planned. I was going to get a car early next year. This moves that up a little bit, and Jeff and I are both taking vacations that we already had booked."

Before coming to Lottery headquarters, Mr. Slobojan went to the Speedy Stop #215, 12503 Lamplight Village Avenue, where he purchased the ticket. He gave the clerk $500 for selling him the winning ticket.

"With school just having started, I thought she could use the money for her children," the winner said. "I know the store gets a bonus, but I wanted to make sure she got something, too."

The silver screen aficionados also will appear in The Life of David Gayle, to be released in November and starring Kevin Spacey. Mr. Slobojan also was featured in the Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

The winner chose the Cash Value Option, which gives the winner the net present value of the jackpot. That comes to $2,415,705.60. The ticket was a Quick Pick.

The retailer is eligible to receive a bonus of one percent of the advertised jackpot, which comes to $40,000.

The winning numbers were 3-10-28-31-38-51.

El Paso Resident Collects $3.6 Million Jackpot

Mai Fernandes spent $9 on alterations on a skirt, spent $1 on a Lotto Texas ticket and ended up with more than $3,635,776.80 million in her pocket. The El Paso resident was the sole winner for the September 7 Lotto Texas drawing, worth an estimated $6 million.

"I told the tailor that I thought charging $10 for the alterations on the skirt was too much," said Fernandes. "I told him I would pay him $9, and then I went to the store and used my dollar to buy a Lotto ticket."

The El Paso resident walked into the Good Times Store #8, 3013 Lee Trevino, to check an old Lotto ticket. She explained that while she was there she decided to buy one Quick Pick ticket.

"I usually buy one or two tickets," Fernandes said. "It was the second time I bought a ticket at that store."

Fernandes told lottery officials she was watching the numbers come up on the nightly news and saw that she had the same numbers. It wasn't enough to make her believe what she was seeing. The next morning, Fernandes said she looked in the El Paso Times to check the numbers again, and still couldn't believe it.

"Monday morning, I finished delivering my Avon stuff and stopped by the store where I bought the ticket. When I walked in, the clerk said 'You're the winner,' " Fernandes said. "I told her 'No,' but I did want to buy a paper. I didn't have enough change with me so the clerk gave me another 20 cents from a donation holder on the counter.

"I went home and looked one more time and realized I had won," she explained.

For two days Fernandes walked around disbelieving she was holding the winning ticket. Finally, she told her husband, Gerald, the good news. Gerald said he didn't believe it at first because they had accidentally mixed up their tickets once before.

"One time we thought we were looking at the ticket and we were really looking at one of those slips with the numbers on it that you get from the stores," he said. "I thought she had done that again."

Fernandes said her immediate plans for her multi-million-dollar winnings include providing a good education for her two grandsons, donating some to charity and visiting her homeland - Vietnam - where she first met her husband.

"I worked for the United States Navy as a secretary, and he worked in construction," she said. "We had the same maid, and she introduced us. That was in 1975."

The two moved to England and then to El Paso, where they have lived for the last 16 years. Fernandes has worked for Avon for the 14 years, but plans on retiring and writing a book about her life in Vietnam.

The jackpot winning ticket was purchased with the Cash Value Option, which equals the net present value of the jackpot amount. Fernandes received $3,635,776.80.

The winning numbers were 01-26-30-40-04-42.

The El Paso area has had multiple Texas Lottery winners in the last week. On September 10, Oscar Miranda won $29,747 on the new Cash Five game, and on Friday, September 13, a jackpot winning Texas Two Step ticket worth $200,000 was sold at 7-Eleven #648, located at 1490 George Dieter Drive.