Widow, 85, Gets $4 Million in ‘Big Spin’

“My goodness” was the strongest thing 85-year-old Elsie Hopkins could say when she won $4.235 million in the California Lottery “Big Spin” progressive jackpot. Hopkins, a twice-widowed Louisiana native now living in San Diego, plans to “take a trip and fix up my house and do a lot of things I always wanted to do” with her winnings, to be paid in 20 annual installments of $169,400. Some of her six grandchildren cheered her as she spun the wheel, clutching as a good luck token a New Zealand gem carved in the shape of a frog. She is the second-oldest person to win a jackpot, and the only one to win more than $100,000 in the most recent spin.