SACRAMENTO – Eileen Bruning -- an 82-year-old mother to five and grandmother to 15 -- told California Lottery officials that she could not quite come to grips with her $220,186 MEGA Millions® win.
The chain of events that led her to the win began before the holiday weekend when Bruning was planning to visit her grandchildren in Arizona. When she saw the hundreds of dollars it would have cost to get from Los Angeles to Arizona, she realized it was something she could not afford.
After not traveling to Arizona, Bruning mentioned that she wanted to have a little fun. She purchased $5 in MEGA Millions ticket based on a friend’s suggestion who hinted that the jackpot for Friday’s draw was more than $100 million. Bruning learned the following morning that she’d matched five of the six winning numbers. Not knowing how much the ticket was worth, Bruning called her daughter to get a second opinion. “I knew I’d won something when I got five in a row,” Bruning explained, “I thought I’d won $2,000, but nothing really big.” Bruning’s daughter verified the prize amount on www.calottery.com and drove to her mother’s house with the unanticipated good news. “They told me to sit down and then they told me I’d won more than $220,000. I couldn’t believe it. It still hasn’t sunk in.”
With the unexpected prize Bruning mentioned that she’d like to help her sister and grandchildren. When asked if there was anything else she’d like to do for herself, Bruning replied that she’s wanted to visit a friend in Manassas, Virginia for many years. With the prize money, Bruning believes this long-held dream will now be possible.
The ticket was purchased at Dolly’s Donuts at 350 South Main Street in Orange.
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.