Includes video report
HALLOWELL, Maine — Nobody was more surprised than Linda Von Oesen to find she'd won $8,190,000 in the September 26th Megabucks Plus drawing.
She was sleeping with her husband Bob in their camper, parked in a Walmart parking lot, when one of her daughters called to see if she'd bought a ticket.
"So she says, 'check your ticket'. I said, 'oh, alright'," explained Linda Von Oesen. "So here we are in a camper, pitch dark and so I says, 'I got to find it, just give me the numbers.' And so I wrote them on a piece of paper and then I went and found the ticket, and I says, 'Stacy, I got that one. Stacy, I've got that one!' And the next thing I was saying was 'Stacy, Stacy, Stacy' and she's going 'Ma! Ma! Ma!' And probably the whole parking lot woke up."
The Von Oesens were then faced with a dilemma, continue on with their vacation, or head home and get the ticket to lottery officials for safe keeping.
"I wanted to secure it, because I mean, I couldn't leave it in the camper," she stated. "And I couldn't take it down the river."
She says she buys one ticket for each Megabucks Plus drawing every week, and lets the machine pick the numbers.
"I do easy pick. I'm fairly lazy. Like I said, I don't even look in the paper. I don't even look at the numbers. I don't know what numbers I get. I don't even look at them when I buy them."
"It only takes one," she added. "If you are going to win, you are going to win on one."
The couple says they do not have any plans to splurge with their new found windfall, save for buying a new, more fuel efficient car, something they had already been planning on doing.
Well, except maybe one item, for their cocker spaniel, Abby. "We might buy a snow blower so she can have a path to go outdoors," said Linda.
"I'm still kind of in shock, trying to figure it all out," admitted Bob.
The Von Oesens have five daughters and fourteen grandchildren, and have already begun planning ways to use their money to help them.
"We are doing what we want, help our kids," said Linda. "It has always been about helping our kids, you know, make sure they're on the path to earning a living and that."
Pressed if they planned to take an exotic trip to enjoy their winnings, Bob explained that a wild adventure is not something they plan to do anytime soon.
"I was in the service, and had all the cruising I wanted, in the Navy," he said. "So that took care of that, and she doesn't want to fly, so we are not going to fly anywhere. So I guess we are stuck with our four wheels on the ground."
Which it seems is exactly where their feet are planted, even though their good fortune has their heads in the clouds.
The Von Oesens chose to receive a one-time, lump sum payment of $4,146,922 after taxes.
RAW VIDEO: Watch the press conference
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"It only takes one," she added. "If you are going to win, you are going to win on one."
Getting to that ONE. Therein lies the battle!
Thats one
Forsure,, 16 Yrs is along time,,, maybe they broke even by now.
Yes, its so funny when people play for 16 years and then say..... "I only bought ONE ticket" lol. lol.
They had been playing the original Tri-State game since it's inception, at only $1 per ticket for the last 15 years.
Only in the last year with the Megabucks+ game, had it gone up to $2.
If you do the math, they only invested about $1768 to win a pot of $8.2 million. (based on one ticket per draw) This represents a ROI of 4,632%.
Not a bad return investment even after 16 years, even if it was won on "one" ticket.
Yeah, except no one sticks to one ticket even if they say they do..............
My guess is, they are rabid gambling addicts.
If I had a camper and won a jackpot, I would probably move up to a motor home, maybe a class A even.
I see players buying only one ticket all the time, if I didn't have a system I would probably only buy one ticket too.
Right now my system create 20 losing tickets per drawing, when I improve it so it only produces one losing ticket per drawing, I will only be playing one ticket per drawing too.
Nice couple, I'm glad for 'em.
I like the lady, she talks funny.
Great Story
Great People
I am glad it was them that won
I really enjoyed that video
Did the winners have to answer all those questions?
ages of their daughters etc etc
I am happy for the winners. I contributed to their jackpot. Hopefully I shall hit the jackpot this weekend
any jackpot
awwwwwwwwwwww "Well, except maybe one item, for their cocker spaniel, Abby. "We might buy a snow blower so she can have a path to go outdoors," said Linda."
I believe it was suppose to read $ 4,146,922 BEFORE taxes. Megabucks is one of those $2 games who only payout half in the cash option. Which is odd considering most of the other games pay quiet a bit more than half on the cash option.
Well, congrats to them! I hope they're smart & have already consulted an attorney & financial planner.
I don't think so. Most cash values are higher than half these days, because annuity rates are so low. Remember, the annuity is calculated based on the cash, not the other way around.
I Agree no wonder some people want to stay anonymous, i mean really,, ages of your adult children
she couldnt even think how old they were 
...i would say you can only ask me questions pertaining to the Lottery ONLY!
This lady, Mrs Linda Von Oesen, was so lucky. She just picked numbers, actually, she lets the machine picked numbers for her, due to lazyness. As everyone else feel, I am jealous of her destiny. Not everyone got the chance to win a lottery jackpot. But I will not stop from taking my chances on evey lottery plays...I will play for the rest of my life.
Congrats to the winners
I just find it odd that Megabucks doesn't display the cash payout like all the other games do. And in their rules section they state that the cash payout is 50% of the jackpot.
I think we heard of this "rule" before, can you please tell us the rule number that is so we can go look at it?
Ohio does that with their Classic Lotto game. I guess they don't want to be changing the formula every time the annuity rate change so they state on their website cash value is 50%.
That would make it easy to figure the cash pay-out, and roll the extra into the next prize.
I may have misunderstood the rule. On the New Hampshire website, rule no.5 (f) states that the MINIMUN cash will be 50% of jackpot. I still find it stetchy that they refuse to display the cash value on only the megabucks game. Before the game went to $2 bucks, they would display the cash value on the website. But its disappeared. I've emailed them a couple of times and they won't get back to me.
Don't forget their main mission is to roll 50% or more back into the state's coffers.
I had a feeling there might be an extra word in conjunction with "50%" ............
Like RJOh said they may just avoid checking rates and doing the calculations over and over.....
besides, what if they quote one thing and the rates change before the pay-out??
Are you serious? And as far as claiming everyone else is "jealous of her destiny", I am seeing quite the opposite from LP members. I wish her the best.
If they do a straight 50% calculation, then I would seriously consider taking the annuity. The cash value these days (with poor rates) should be in the range of 65%-75% of the annuity jackpot. You'll get a lot more value with the annuity.
Congrats to the lucky couple, hope you enjoy your winnings.
not enough to throw away cash on a worthless attorney and a financial planner that will try to rob them. just take the check and invest it without a third party's advice. maybe with a powerball or megamillions jackpot that is advisable but this just isn't enough. just remember all lawyers are liars and financial planners will plot and scheme to get a large hunk of cash from you.
What would happen if financial advisers and attorneys, contacted other financial advisers and attorneys for advice?
That would be like a shark eating itself.
Perhaps they would cancel each other out, to form a black hole.
it would be, but there isn't an attorney or financial planner living or breathing who would trust another attorney or financial planner knowing that that their whole existence is predicated on ripping people off. i would rather trust a used car dealer on a corner lot in manchester with a battered trailer for an office before i would put my lottery winnings with any attorney or financial planner on the planet. they are taught to lie cheat and steal the second they enter law school, which really should be a two week course. the phoniest profession on earth.
Wow! You just mentioned two of the lowest denominators in my book. Used car dealers and the slimy city of Manchester, NH.
I beg to differ they are taught to lie, cheat and steal the moment they enter school. It is the second year of school they receive such instructions.
Please get your facts straight, before spewing such malicious falsehoods.
ok so is it the 2nd year or the moment they enter school. i'm confused. and for someone who detests manchester (there's a couple of good food places there) you live pretty close to it. does hookset have a food store on rte 3 or do you go to concord?
Most everyone ends up within a 100 miles of where they were born, they think they dont have a choice.
Didn't know if you were referring to supermarkets or diners?
I shop Hannaford's for groceries. The diners and fast food joints are just greasy, tasteless dives, which I try to avoid like the IndianaKid posts.
Concord and points north are just havens for cows (the ones that give milk as well), so I try to avoid that area as well.
Sounds like you don't get out of the house much mcginnin56.........
Being an Air Force brat, I was born in Japan.
Guess I should have stayed within 100 miles of Tokyo. At least the sushi would have been great.
My excursions are all points south and into the great state of Massachusetts.
Good idea, the MA folk seem so discerning and highly intellectual.......
It's preferable than talking to cows.
good luck with that chain (hannafords that is) the local hannaford in my area doesn't even bother to sweep the floor in front of the meat dept. because no one will go near it. you are pretty boxed in up there since you won't go north to concord (not a great city but somewhat passable) you can't go east since there no bridges over that river. you won't go south to manchester for reasons stated. it is true there is nothing west of you but boondocks. so you hop on the toll road and go south to methuen, on the rare occasions you are off this site. it made sense when your state had a 10% surcharge on winning lottery tickets (since repealed), but traveling 60 miles round trip to shop at 4.00 a gallon seems to defeat the purpose of living in a state with no income tax i guess.
At our Hannaford's complimentary brooms are provided in all store aisles.
Should a customer be offended by accumulating floor debris, they need only to start sweeping away.