Shirt Salesman Wins Lotto Jackpot of $17.9 Million

A salesman who peddles sportshirts at swap meets in San Diego County on Monday claimed the biggest prize in California lottery history--$17.9 million.

When all the right numbers came up on Saturday night’s Lotto 6/49 television broadcast and Gordon Pivar realized that he had won the record jackpot, the 53-year-old bachelor said he “jumped up, got excited, rechecked the numbers and got excited again.”

But instead of broadcasting the good news to friends and neighbors, Pivar decided to keep quiet. He tucked the ticket away in a drawer, telling only his parents about his good fortune. The next morning, Pivar went to work as usual, not letting on that he had become a millionaire overnight.

“I wanted to make sure that it had actually happened, that there were no mistakes or that something went wrong,” Pivar explained.

On Monday, the first day after the grand prize drawing that state lottery offices were open, Pivar and his parents took a $60 taxi ride from his Oceanside home to San Diego--”I didn’t feel like driving,” he said--and presented the lucky ticket.

In a special ceremony in Oceanside on Friday, Pivar will get the first of 20 annual checks for $717,600, which constitute his winnings minus federal income taxes.

Although Pivar plans to continue working until satisfied that his future is mapped out, he acknowledges that a new style of life will undoubtedly set in.

A former data processing employee, Pivar in recent years has made a modest living selling men’s sportswear at open-air swap meets around San Diego County.

Flea Market

Wednesdays through Fridays, he would work a flea market at the downtown San Diego Sports Arena, unloading his merchandise onto folding tables for patrons to pick through. On the weekends, Pivar would set up at his regular spot at the swap meet held at an Oceanside drive-in theater. For him, luxuries have been few.

“I’ve always been working,” said Pivar, a New York native with a distinctly matter-of-fact approach to life. “We’re middle-class people.”

His jackpot will change all that. Although Pivar is doggedly trying to keep his fortune in perspective, he’s looking forward to a few indulgences.

“My first thought was investing the major portion of it,” Pivar said. “Some of it will be spent on things like a car. Nothing fancy. Maybe a Rolls-Royce or something. A Maseratti. A Ferrari. I don’t want to be too conspicuous in the neighborhood.”

Making a List

Joking aside, Pivar said he would like to buy a new home and car for his parents. He has also started compiling a list of charities to which he wants to donate money. Pivar also talked about buying a fishing boat for himself.

“Something like this takes thought, to plan your future,” Pivar said. “The amount of money is a little frightening. But I think I’ll learn to live with it.”

On Saturday night, Pivar was alone at his home watching the weekly television broadcast that announces the six winning lotto numbers. As the numbers came out--15, 18, 22, 24, 28, 49--Pivar quickly scribbled them down on a piece of paper.

Then he checked the two tickets he had bought earlier that day at Mike’s Liquor No. 2, where he stops a couple of times a week to buy cigarettes.

The first was a dud. The second practically sent Pivar leaping through the ceiling with glee.

Winning Numbers

To verify the figure, Pivar went to a nearby convenience store where the winning numbers had been posted and checked to make sure he had written down the right numbers. But he decided not to reveal the news to anyone except his parents, Hyman, 83, and Lillian, who describes her age as “39 plus.”

“We were very happy for him,” said Hyman Pivar, a Brooklyn native who ran a cigar store in New York before retiring and moving to California. “But we didn’t jump through the roof.”

As usual, Pivar went to the local Oceanside swap meet on Sunday and went through the motions of the workaday world because he could not enter his winning claim until the lottery offices opened Monday morning.

“It was a frustrating experience,” he said. “It was really difficult restraining myself from saying anything to anybody.”

Ran Errands

Finally, Monday arrived and, after running a few errands, Pivar drove with his parents down to the local lottery headquarters. The television cameras were waiting. Pivar was an instant celebrity.

With him there was Najib Mansour, 40, the owner of Mike’s Liquor No. 2 in Oceanside.

“I wanted to congratulate the winner,” said Mansour, who estimated he has spent $4,000 on the lottery himself but has yet to win a cent. “I know him, and I sold him that lucky ticket. I hope I will get some gift from him, anything would do.”

Mansour said a ceremony to present the first annuity check to Pivar will be held at his store Friday morning.

“I’m very pleased because this means a lot of publicity and business for me,” he said. “Today we had lots and lots of people in here, many, many more than usual, buying tickets and buying liquor. Everyone loves my store now. They think it is very lucky.”

‘Big Spin’

The Lotto 6/49 game began two months ago, a year after the more popular scratch-off game got under way. The only previous lotto jackpot winner was Steven J. Conway, 30, a computer company employee from Rohnert Park, who won $10.8 million on Nov. 8. The largest single prize previously awarded in the California Lottery was a $15.22 million cumulative jackpot won by Eve Paige Spencer of Saratoga in June in the lottery’s “Big Spin.”

According to lottery officials, Pivar’s jackpot is the sixth largest ever awarded in North America. The record is $41 million won in August, 1985, in New York, followed by $40 million won in September, 1984, in Illinois.