Big Wheel : Pasadena Woman Wins $5.2 Million in Lottery

Laura Graney, a 34-year-old mother of four from Pasadena, stepped up to the California Lottery wheel Saturday, gave it a nervous tug and won $5.2 million, the second largest jackpot in the 4-month-old game.

Graney became a multimillionaire exactly one week after a 24-year-old supermarket clerk made lottery history by winning $6.3 million.

“I can’t even conceive of that much money,” a jubilant Graney said in a telephone interview from Sacramento, moments after winning. “I wouldn’t even look at the wheel,” she said. “I kept looking at my husband. I felt lucky, but this is unbelievable.”

Graney said she plans to use part of the money for a swimming pool that she and her husband, Bruce, are building in their backyard. “I’m going to invest some of it,” she added, “and I’m going to help some real good friends.”

Helps Run Antique Story

She and her husband run Graney & Co., an antique store in Pasadena. “I’m the ‘and company’,” she said.

To bring her good luck, Graney said, she had her husband hold a picture of their children as she spun the wheel. It was a fitting token because Graney’s children, or at least one of them, were partly responsible for her good fortune.

At Christmas time, she said, she bought each of her four children a lottery ticket as stocking stuffers. Her 4-year-old son got a $2 winner.

“I traded it in and gave him the (new) ticket. He scratched it off and said ‘Look, Mommy, I got three in a row,”’ Graney recounted. “I said, oh, that’s nice. Then I looked at it and said, ‘Give me that thing!’ ”

It was a $100 winning ticket and thus made Graney eligible to be placed in a drawing for Big Spin contestants.

2 Other Millionaires

Besides Graney, two other people became instant millionaires on Saturday.

William McLain, 27, a foreman for a pipeline construction company in Rosemont, and Margaret Fancher, 33, a waitress from Santa Maria, each won $1 million. They will receive $40,000 a year for 20 years, state lottery officials said.

Winners have 20% of their awards deducted for taxes. Graney will receive about $208,000 a year, she said.

The jackpot of the Big Spin starts at $3 million and goes up by $65,000 each time a spinner fails to win it. Graney was the 17th spinner on Saturday.

Lottery officials said a total of $7.68 million was awarded to 20 contestants Saturday.

Other winners included Bernard Sample of Sunnyvale and William Thornton of La Mesa, each of whom won $100,000. Marsha Kapfer of Bakersfield, Mark Lackner of Carson and Fred Amadin of Modesto each won $50,000. Twelve other winners were awarded $10,000 prizes.