Grandma's lottery ticket detour pays off

Mar 29, 2007, 12:21 am (21 comments)

Kentucky Lottery

Seventy-three-year-old grandmother Margie Coy had plans to visit her grandson Terry Coy II in Greensburg, Ind., last weekend when her boyfriend decided to take a detour into Kentucky.

"I asked him where we were going and he said he wanted to buy some Win For Life tickets in Kentucky," said Coy, who lives in the little town of Windfall near Kokomo in northern Indiana. "I pretty much go along with anything he wants to do."

They motored over the I-275 bridge near Lawrenceburg and followed the I-275 loop to Hebron, where they bought four $5 "Win For Life" tickets and a handful of other lottery tickets at the Ameristop Express on Litton Lane.

Monday morning, boyfriend Ron Tedlock, 50, logged on to the lottery Web site to check the winning numbers for Saturday night's drawing.

Coy quickly learned that she had won a windfall — $1,000 a week for the rest of her life — from the Kentucky lottery.

"I was doing the laundry and he was reading off the numbers and I said if you gave me the right numbers, I won," said Coy, who is retired from General Motors, where she had worked in a voltage regulator plant in Kokomo for more than 33 years until an auto accident forced her to retire in 1995.

"This is a shock to me. Never in my wildest dreams did I think this would happen," Coy said Tuesday.

After buying the tickets in Kentucky, Coy and Tedlock decided to drive into Ohio to buy more lottery tickets.

Coy rattled off a list of lottery games that she routinely plays in her home state, where she estimates she spends about $100 a week on tickets and scratch-off cards, including an Indiana game that's linked to the Fox hit TV show "American Idol."

Despite her winnings, Coy, the sixth Kentucky winner in the Win For Life game, said she intends to keep playing.

"I'm not going to stop from buying the tickets," she said.

And despite her age, Coy's convinced she's going to be around long enough to collect quite a few of those $1,000-a-week payments.

"I'm in good health and I keep busy. I live on five acres and I've got a nine-room house," Coy said.

After making lottery ticket runs through both states, Coy said it was getting late so they never got a chance to stop and visit her 23-year-old grandson in Greensburg.

Kentucky Post

Tags for this story

Other popular tags

Comments

emilyg's avataremilyg

Love it.  Go-granny! 

 

                                          You Rock 





dingo's avatardingo

She plays regularly. Good things she won something big!

tnlotto1's avatartnlotto1

she won the lottery and her boyfriend is 20 years younger than her, she is really living it up

justxploring's avatarjustxploring

Wow!  She spends $100 a week on tickets? 

   Happy for her that she won.  Now - go visit your grandson!!

 

By the way, the article says:  "where they bought four $5 "Win For Life" so why do they then say she won...   Did she play a different game?  The article starts out by saying he decided to take a detour and she went along with him.

OldSchoolPa's avatarOldSchoolPa

Given her advance age, she should take a lump sum payout if available as an option...then again, she spends $100 a week and foregoes visiting her grandson in lieu of playing nearby state lotteries...can you say lump sum here today, gone tomorrow?!!!

justxploring's avatarjustxploring

Given her advance age,

 

The closer I get to 60, the more I notice these things. LOL  The woman is only 73!!  I realize that nationally the average life expectancy in the United States is around 78, but I know plenty of active 80+ year olds.   Anyway, you can always bequeath your annuity payment.  It doesn't appear as if she has financial troubles, so taking annual payments could prove to be a responsible way of collecting her money.

rdc137

I wish I was that lucky. Way to go Grandma?

JimmySand9

I'd be open to going out with someone 23 years older than me, but then again I am 19. 42 isn't that old.

rdc137

Quote: Originally posted by JimmySand9 on Mar 29, 2007

I'd be open to going out with someone 23 years older than me, but then again I am 19. 42 isn't that old.

Wow, didn't think there was someone younger than me around here.

KY Floyd's avatarKY Floyd

"you can always bequeath your annuity payment."

The prize she won pays $1000 a week for life. There is nothing for her to pass on to somebody in this case. Unless the younger boyfriend has some significant health issues it probably says something about their relationship or their smarts that she claimed the prize instead of the boyfriend. If I had a girlfriend who was 20 years younger than me and I bought a ticket that won a prize that pays until death she'd be the winner. Of course that would only happen after a trip to the lawyer to draw up some papers about the palimony settlement if we were to break up.

If you and I went to the store together and we each bought two tickets then "we" would have bought four tickets.

Chip P

I had the chance to work with Margie when she came to our offices with her ticket on Monday, and let me tell you - this article doesn't come even close to capturing what a spitfire she was! I can't say I've seen any other 73-year-old with long blond hair dancing around our offices before, but Margie put on quite a show. My favorite thing she said - when she called one of her sons to tell him about her win, she asked what he was doing when he answered the phone. He said he was in the bathroom, to which she replied, "Good - because after I tell you my news you're doing to do what you are probably doing already!"

Margie was an absolute joy, and in the era of stories about winners like Jack Whitaker, you couldn't help but get the feeling from her that she's going to do good things with this windfall. I have no doubt she'll outlive many of us on this site - I'm almost 40 and wish I had her energy and enthusiam!

justxploring's avatarjustxploring

KY Floyd, thanks for picking up the "for your life" statement I forgot, since I was responding to the remark about her "advanced age" but I also thought that each of those games had a guaranteed payout of at least 20 years.  If you win $1,000 a week for life, I am pretty sure that, if you die the next year, the payments don't stop.  I'll look at the Kentucky site now.  This is from their FAQs section:

Is there a limit to the number of years I can "win for life"?
No. The Lottery will continue to pay the top prize of $1,000 a week for life to a Win for Life top prize winner for his/her entire natural life, without limit.

Since the top prize is an annuity, what happens when I die?
The top prize of $1,000 a week for life is guaranteed for a minimum of 10 years. Therefore, if a winner passes away within 10 years of winning, the remaining annuity payments would be transferable to a beneficiary.
------------------
Interesting.  Every state is different I guess in their interpretation of the term "For Life."

"If you and I went to the store together and we each bought two tickets then "we" would have bought four tickets."

 
Yes, KY Floyd, I'm pretty sure that's what I said in my first post on this thread. We have no idea what kind of agreement they have.  By the way, if someone is paid for their entire natural life, it makes no sense for a 73 year old woman to claim the prize if she has family or a significant other, unless there is a trust issue or the person purchasing the ticket must be the person who claims it.  From the above statement listed under their FAQs, the Kentucky Lottery would pay a 20 year old for 70 years if he lived to be 90.  That's a big difference!
pumpi76

"where they bought four $5 "Win For Life" tickets".....

Don't win for life cost 1 dollar?There got some scratch-offs that cost 2, but 5 is really pushing it...Is a great game but it should cost no more than 2 dollars...Win for Life is a great game; I consider it the best lotto game of them all...

 

 

"I just saw one of them camouflaged....."    ....."Those eyes......"            ".....They dissappeared...."            from movie "Predator 1"

Kylottoplayer

Yes, "Win for Life" does cost $1 per play, Granny bought the maximum amount on each ticket which is $5.00.  I was just on my way to get some 'Lose for Life' tickets, but changed my mind!

Subscribe to this news story
Guest