| When most of us
dream of winning a lottery jackpot, we usually
think about investing in fine art, buying a
wardrobe full of designer clothes and taking
first class trips around the world. But 54 year
old Della Nelson plans to do something much
more practical with her new lump sum of $6.1
million… she and her husband intend to
build a new home, buy themselves a new car and
pay the bills!
Della is one of the most recent winners of
the Florida Lotto, and although she will have
to pay taxes on her $6.1 million jackpot under
US law, she will still have more than enough
left over to keep her smiling. “I almost
had a heart attack,” she said. “I
had just got home from the hospital and thought
I was going to have to go back.”
A surprise it might have been, but Della seemed
to have a sixth sense of a future win some years
ago when she wrote her father a cheque for a
million dollars just in case she was ever lucky
enough to win a lottery jackpot. Now that this
has happened, she says that she intends to honour
that cheque. “God blessed us with this
money for a reason,” she said in a statement
released by officials.
The winning ticket was purchased by Della from
a convenience store in Titusville, and the store
itself receives its own windfall of $20,000
for being lucky enough to sell it. In addition,
they’ll benefit from a rush of local players
who are no doubt hoping that lucky lightning
will be able to strike the same place twice.
19th May 2006
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