A 94-year-old great-great-grandmother from Everett, Massachusetts is thinking about fixing her leaky roof and maybe taking a cruise to someplace warm and sunny now that she's won $5.6 million in the state lottery, her great-granddaughter, Cynthia Smith, said yesterday.
Louise Outing, who has lived in the same house since she was a child and became the matriarch of a family that includes seven grandchildren, 11 great-grandchildren, and three great-great-grandchildren, won the windfall after purchasing a Megabucks ticket at the nearby Fine Mart convenience store in Everett, Smith said.
The numbers were announced Sept. 4, and the odds were 1 in about 5.2 million, lottery officials said.
On Friday, Outing walked into state lottery offices in Braintree and claimed a check worth approximately $198,000 -- the first of 20 years' worth of payments, after taxes, she will collect. The staggeringly good fortune came her way after years of playing the lottery every day except Sunday, which she considers too holy for numbers games.
''It's really unbelievable right now -- it hasn't really sunk in that she actually won," said Smith, 34, who answered Outing's phone yesterday. Outing, she said, was on a shopping trip, not to buy diamonds or a new car, but to pick up groceries, as she does every Saturday.
''We're still waiting for someone to say 'Smile, you're on 'Candid Camera,' " Smith said. The phone has been ringing off the hook, she said, with family and friends calling to confirm that it was indeed Outing's diminutive figure and restrained smile they saw on the television news.
Before she retired decades ago, Smith said, Outing worked at Anthony's Pier 4, a waterfront seafood restaurant popular for political fund-raisers and functions. When she learned of her winnings by watching television, her thoughts first turned to simple purchases, Smith said.
''Her house is leaking, and she needed it fixed," Smith said. She is also contemplating a cruise, and most of all, providing for the well-being of her extended family in the later years of her life.
''Finally, she said, everybody can be set straight and she can go knowing that everybody can finally be set," Smith said. ''She's more relieved."
If Outing doesn't live to collect all her winnings, the remainder will go to her beneficiaries, lottery officials said.
''We're thrilled for her," said Joseph C. Sullivan, executive director of the state lottery, who met Outing in the lottery office.
''She was, obviously, in terms of expressing her emotions, low-key. But over a period of time, it will sink in. We are equally happy someone who is like Louise was able to win a jackpot that size."
Smith said she was planning to take Outing to dinner, in honor of her great-grandmother's big win. ''She has outlived everybody. She has two first cousins left from her generation and everybody else is grands and great-grands," Smith said. ''She's the matriarch."
WHaT a shame!!! She will never live to collect all of it any to make matters worse her estate will have to pay taxes on the remainder before those grandkids can collect the next payments. One old guy died like that and his heirs had to forgo the next 8 payments to payoff the IRS before they got a dime. Why in the world wouldn't somebody advise this old lady properly. At 94 I think the real winner was the government with the way this was handled!
Maybe she could transfer the payments to a trust that her children would own after she dies and avoid those estate taxes? Anyway, maybe GW eliminated them by now.
The funny thing is, if you look at the picture on their website, the big (promotional/phony) check they hand her is written for $5.6 million, as if she got the full amount at once and also without taxes being withheld (HA!).
i think that someone who has lived this long, and played as long as she did deserves it more than anyone else, even if she doesn't live to see all of it. from the way she looks, she may live to see it all. even if she doesn't, she can die knowing she has set generations of her family in the right direction.
They get older and older dont they. If this isnt an Alanis Morrisette song then I dont know what is. Isnt it ironic, dont you think.
WHaT a shame!!! She will never live to collect all of it any to make matters worse her estate will have to pay taxes on the remainder before those grandkids can collect the next payments. One old guy died like that and his heirs had to forgo the next 8 payments to payoff the IRS before they got a dime. Why in the world wouldn't somebody advise this old lady properly. At 94 I think the real winner was the government with the way this was handled!
Maybe she could transfer the payments to a trust that her children would own after she dies and avoid those estate taxes? Anyway, maybe GW eliminated them by now.
The funny thing is, if you look at the picture on their website, the big (promotional/phony) check they hand her is written for $5.6 million, as if she got the full amount at once and also without taxes being withheld (HA!).
it's great she won. whatever her children get - is pure gravy for them. good for her.
i think that someone who has lived this long, and played as long as she did deserves it more than anyone else, even if she doesn't live to see all of it. from the way she looks, she may live to see it all. even if she doesn't, she can die knowing she has set generations of her family in the right direction.
although thus is a good reason why mass. needs a cash option on their games.
I wouldn't be surprised if all the grand kids are up there fixing her roof right about now......
Better late than never.