1 Lotto Winner Emerges--and Becomes Target of Joke

A 49-year-old waitress who won $7.2 million in the California Lottery reported for work as usual in the small Sierra community of Westwood, received a standing ovation and then was fired.

But Rosemarie Beavers said Monday that she was immediately hired back by her boss, who said she played the joke because she’d never before had the chance to fire a millionaire.

Beavers, who spoke at a news conference held by the lottery, will receive $289,600 annually after tax withholding for 20 years because she picked all six numbers that were drawn Saturday.

Another player also picked all six numbers and will receive the other half of the $14-million-plus jackpot, lottery spokesman Bob Taylor said. But by Monday afternoon, the player still had not turned in the winning ticket.

Beavers said she played the winning lotto ticket at the last minute when urged by one of her daughters, using a combination of family birthdays and the 28th anniversary of her wedding to her husband, Roger, who is a logger.

“When I saw four numbers had been drawn, I started shaking . . . and when it was all six, I went to tell my husband but I’d lost my voice,” Beavers said.