Oregon Lottery winner won't retire

Feb 25, 2014, 7:00 pm (49 comments)

Oregon Lottery

You've just won the Oregon Lottery Win for Life game, so how do you celebrate?

By dining at Marco Polo Global Restaurant, of course.

That's what Shamus Harmon did last week after claiming his Win for Life prize at Oregon Lottery headquarters.

"I am one of the most boring lotto winners, I'm sure," he said.

Or one of the smartest.

Harmon, a 34-year-old safety trainer who lives in Salem, said his first plan for the windfall is to pay off his mortgage within five years.

He will receive weekly installments of $1,000 — minus taxes — for the rest of his life. That's about $666 per week.

"I'm going to pretty much throw all of it right at the house," he said. "Then after that, I don't know."

Traveling might be on his agenda, including a return trip to Australia. He is single and has no children.

Harmon is not the youngest Win for Life winner. Eric Cottrell of Salem was 21 when he claimed his Win for Life prize in August 2009.

Win for Life tickets are $2 each, and drawings are every Monday, Wednesday and Saturday at 7:30 p.m. The odds of winning the top prize in Win for Life, which has been on the Oregon Lottery menu since February 2001, are 1 in 1,353,275.

Harmon is the 36th top prize winner in Win for Life. He bought his winning ticket at the Fred Meyer on Market Street NE. He stopped last weekend at the same store to buy Girl Scout cookies and decided while he was there to check his lottery tickets at the customer service counter. He also had one for Mega Millions and for Powerball.

The Powerball jackpot was nearing $400 million at the time, so he probably would have rather had that be the winning ticket. But make no mistake, Harmon is grateful. It just hit him the past couple of days how lucky he is.

"I could retire if I wanted to," he said, "but I'm not going to."

News story photo(Click to display full-size in gallery)

Statesman Journal

Comments

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Congratulations Shamus.
Party

Artist77's avatarArtist77

Congrats Shamus.....what a good Irish name!  And smart move paying off your mortgage first. Nothing feels better than being debt free there.

Jon D's avatarJon D

Since this is a *true* "For Life" prize, not one of those 20yr or 25yr pseudo-4-life games, and he's still young at 34, he can get a nice haul, a few million over the decades!

inittowin's avatarinittowin

It's prolly a good idea that he still wants to work. Winning that much money will allow him to at least pay for his health insurance in a couple of years with Odumdumcare! By then, it ought to be at least $1500 to $2000 a month for someone his age...

BukeyeStateLuck

Quote: Originally posted by inittowin on Feb 25, 2014

It's prolly a good idea that he still wants to work. Winning that much money will allow him to at least pay for his health insurance in a couple of years with Odumdumcare! By then, it ought to be at least $1500 to $2000 a month for someone his age...

Is prolly an English word?  And only a racist would use Odumdumcare for the president?

hearsetrax's avatarhearsetrax

Skepticalwell I hope he manages his money well enough to enjoy it for the rest of his years

 but roughly $666 a week after he pays of his mortgage and etc etc

 

I reckon he can't get into too much trouble with that amount

Jani Norman's avatarJani Norman

an additional 2,664 a month will come in handy, just spend wisely and don't make any new friends.

 

 

inittowin's avatarinittowin

Quote: Originally posted by BukeyeStateLuck on Feb 25, 2014

Is prolly an English word?  And only a racist would use Odumdumcare for the president?

Green laugh Now that is FUNNY! Green laughBTW, is that an English word... Bukeye????Thud

BukeyeStateLuck

Quote: Originally posted by inittowin on Feb 25, 2014

Green laugh Now that is FUNNY! Green laughBTW, is that an English word... Bukeye????Thud

There you go again.....Making fun of my name? You dont like it because bigoted nrain cant understand it

BukeyeStateLuck

There you go again.....Making fun of my name? You dont like it because your bigoted brain cant understand it

golfer1960's avatargolfer1960

Quote: Originally posted by BukeyeStateLuck on Feb 25, 2014

There you go again.....Making fun of my name? You dont like it because your bigoted brain cant understand it

If you think the president is a dumb dumb, that means you're a racist?

Only people on the left who agree with Obama's social revenge, muslim terrorist sympathizer, and socialist feelings think that he's a genius.

He's not a dumb dumb, all the people who voted for him are dumb dumbs.

weshar75's avatarweshar75

I don't play win for life because the prize is too small for my taste.  I like the big jackpots of mega millions and powerball even though I have not won them yet.  But maybe some day I will.-weshar75

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KY Floyd's avatarKY Floyd

"Or one of the smartest."

Maybe he's just not a moron. He'd have to be exceptionally stupid to think that a pre-tax income of $52k is really enough to retire on at 34 years old.

Shelby Mustang

a thou a week for life I think Id keep working too, LOL heck that some peoples paycheck before taxes anyways

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