Scratch-offs provide big wins for lottery players

By Mashaun D. Simon

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Two retirees and a teen are among a handful of recent big Georgia lottery winners.

Lawrence Brooks, 57, is the biggest winner of the bunch.

Brooks, 57, of Columbus, won $500,000 from playing the Atlanta Falcons instant game Touchdown.

Happy is how the grandfather of 12 expresses how he feels about the win. He purchased the winning ticket Sunday at Ray’s Food Mart in Columbus.

The Falcons fan missed most of the game because of the win.

“I got home, scratched it and went back to the store,” he said. “By the time I’d gotten back home, I had missed most of the game.”

He plans to buy the truck he has always wanted and to take care of his grandchildren.

A 67-year-old Flowery Branch woman plans to pay off some bills with her winnings.

Jane Ott, a retiree, won $50,000 by playing the Jumbo Bucks Classic instant game.

“I couldn’t believe it,” said Ott, a retired medical technician. “I was just really shaking.”

The married mother of four bought her ticket at the Fast Food Mart on Winder Highway in Flowery Branch.

Justin Gray, 19, is planning on put some of his winnings away for the future of his 1-year-old daughter.

Gray, of Moultrie, won $35,000 after playing $35,000 Super Score, a Georgia Lottery instant game.

Gray, who builds ice machines, had just gotten off work when he stopped at US Food Mart on S. Main Street in Moultrie.

He bought a soda and the ticket, and scratched it in the car.

“I had to leave, I was so happy,” he said. “It still hasn’t sunk in.”

Another retiree is $10,000 richer.

P. Eugene Crandall, a retired school teacher of Suwanee, won his $10,000 prize by playing the instant game Extreme Green.

“I was just driving through town,” he explained. “I was on my way back to Suwanee for Thanksgiving.”

The 70-year-old stopped by Snappy Food on Ga. Highway 57 in Townsend and scratched the ticket in the store.

“I couldn’t believe it,” he said, adding that he plans to build a home on a portion of his undeveloped land in McIntosh County.