2nd Biggest Lottery Spin : She Doubled Her Luck to Win $11.75 Million

Joan Jones, a water district office manager from Carmichael, doubled a jackpot worth nearly $6 million to win $11.75 million Saturday, the second largest prize won in the state lottery’s Big Spin.

“I’m still the same me, little Joanie,” Jones, 53, said in a telephone interview.

She said she plans to keep her $17,000-a-year job with the Del Paso Manor Water District in Sacramento.

Cruise and New Truck

“ ‘Dad’ gets his pickup with a camper on top,” she said, referring to her husband of nearly 24 years, Hank, a retired Safeway produce manager. “We’re going on a Caribbean cruise--that’s my dream--and I will make a contribution to the Carmichael Elks for the Crippled Children’s Society.”

“I haven’t given it (her new riches) much thought” beyond that, Jones added. “I’m still shaking.”

The mother of four and grandmother of five, Jones said she would celebrate her win this weekend at a family reunion. She said she has been playing the lottery “since they started,” but had never won more than $5 before buying the ticket last month that entitled her to a $500 prize and contained the letters that led to her being chosen for the Big Spin.

Hit the Double Slot

On her first spin, the ball fell into a “double” slot, earning her a second spin on which she landed in one of three grand prize slots.

Lottery public affairs director Bob Taylor said in Sacramento that Jones was the 156th consecutive spinner since the last grand prize was awarded 17 weeks ago. The biggest grand prize won on the Big Spin was $15.2 million by Donner Spencer of Saratoga in June of 1986, he said.

Taylor said Jones will receive the first of 20 annual installments--$470,000 after taxes--next week.

Four other spinners, including a 78-year-old Canoga Park woman, each took home $50,000 in prize money this week; five other Californians each won $25,000.

The Big Spin jackpot, which reverts to $2 million after someone wins it and grows by $25,000 each time a spinner fails to hit it, will start at $2.05 million next week.