An East Point mother of three probably won’t have to scrimp on giving this holiday season after winning a $250,000 Georgia Lottery prize.
Maria Gomez, 47, won her top prize playing the new instant scratch-off game called Giant Jingle Bucks.
“First I want to buy a new home, and I want a big tree for Christmas,” Gomez said.
Gomez said she on the way to a pharmacy with her husband, Juan, when they stopped at Citgo Food Mart, 3094 Washington Road in East Point, and bought a ticket. The couple scratched it in the car.
“I saw the matching No. 17, and I said, ‘Wait, Wait! Stop the car,’ ” Gomez said. “We went back home and totally forgot about what we were going to buy.”
Gomez joins a handful of players who’ve recently took home nice-sized lottery jackpots.
Michael Caudle, of Jackson, is one of two players each to win $149,259, matching all five winning numbers from the Nov. 1 Fantasy 5 drawing.
Caudle, 60, played numbers from his wife Tina’s vintage sports team jerseys from her days playing softball in Douglasville.
The truck driver bought his winning ticket at Shell Food Mart, 3638 Highway 5 in Douglasville. The second jackpot winning ticket was sold in Columbus. Winning numbers from the Nov. 1 Fantasy 5 drawing were: 3-7-12-22-32.
“I stopped at the gas station this weekend,” Caudle said. “You can’t imagine what I was thinking. I asked, ‘Is this real?’”
“I want to pay off bills and put up money for a vacation next summer,” Caudle said. “This is quite a phenomenon!”
Caudle also is celebrating his daughter’s recent milestone as a college graduate who was a recipient of the Georgia Lottery-funded HOPE Scholarship.
Gerald Miller, of Bonaire, claimed his $227,245 Fantasy 5 ticket prize on Oct. 22 at the Georgia Lottery office in Macon. He bought his ticket at the Discount Mart, 2991 Moody Road in Bonaire, in Houston County, for the Sept. 22 drawing. Winning numbers from the Sept. 22 drawing were: 6-23-27-32-37.
Miller, 51, said he plans to make house repairs and pay off bills. “I’ll help my kids in school and pay off my credit cards.”
Just in case Powerball is your game, the jackpot has reached an estimated $143 million to a single annuity winner for Wednesday’s drawing. The jackpot has grown since Oct. 6 and has rolled nine times.
One player won $10,000 in Saturday’s drawing. The lucky ticket was purchased at Daniel’s Grocery in Cumming.
Powerball offers two payment options: the $143 million jackpot prize paid over 29 years in 30 graduated payments, or the cash option, which is about $92 million. Powerball tickets are $2 per play.
