SACRAMENTO – David Hearn always knew he was destined to be something other than a trash truck driver for the City of San Bernardino. Although he liked his job, at age 43, he quit and started his own business, buying a car hauler, so that he could transport new cars to dealerships. He’s also writing a book, his autobiography.
Hearn recently earned another title besides husband, father, business-owner and writer. He can now call himself a Lottery winner. That’s because Hearn won the California Lottery’s “$750,000 Payday” on a Scratchers® ticket.
Hearn bought 16 tickets at a Shell gas station. He went home and sat the tickets on the table. “The kids were in school so I took the opportunity to clean the house,” explained Hearn. “Then I started scratching my tickets, took a break to take a nap, woke up and started scratching again. The first one I scratched was the winner.” He said he had a feeling he was going to win big and, in fact, had been telling his wife for three weeks that he felt it. “One of my wife’s co-workers recently had a dream that my wife won the Lottery, so it was just a matter of time.”
Hearn is the father of four. When he realized he had won, the kids were playing Monopoly. “I told them to stop playing, because we needed to go and see mom right away,” said Hearn. “My wife is a teacher so we had to have the principal pull her out of her class while we all sat in the principal’s office and waited for her. It was the first time I didn’t mind sitting in the principal’s office.”
Hearn’s prize will be spread over 25 years, beginning at $20,000 and graduating in value by the 25th year to $40,000 annually.
More than 95 cents of every Lottery dollar is returned to the community in the form of contributions to education, prizes and retail commissions. The California Lottery contributes at least 34 cents of every dollar that players spend on Lottery products to public education and returns more than 50 percent of sales to players in the form of prizes. Since its inception in 1985, the Lottery has contributed nearly $21 billion to California schools out of total sales of more than $56 billion. Retailers benefit too, earning $3.6 billion in compensation since 1985.