$1 Million Is No April Fool’s Joke

The tax season became an even more lucrative time of the year for tax preparer Robert Marshall of Torrance on Saturday when he won $1 million in the California Lottery’s weekly “Big Spin” in Sacramento.

“I hit the big one,” the 52-year-old self-employed tax preparer said in a telephone interview. He said he was “just stunned” when the prize wheel stopped on the $1-million mark.

Marshall will receive $50,000 a year over the next 20 years less 20% for federal taxes.

Marshall said he thought it was an April Fool’s joke when his name was selected April 1 as a contestant for the program. He said it was “really rough concentrating” on preparing tax returns last week while he waited in anticipation of his television appearance.

The Worst Week

“It couldn’t have been a worse week out of the whole tax season,” he said.

Marshall said he and his wife, Beth, plan to go to Las Vegas for a few days when the tax season ends. “I don’t think anything is going to change for us,” he said.

Two people won $100,000 each in Saturday’s spin. They are Robert Harrington, 69, a retired motion picture worker who lives in Klamath Falls, Ore., and Thomas Tuttle, 56, an operations manager from Seal Beach. James Schaeffer of Vineburg won $50,000. The $40,000 winners were Diane Harvey of Redondo Beach, Yvonne O’Dell of Castro Valley, Bijuli Pande of Walnut Creek and Laurie Donehey of San Bernardino. Edith Briggs of South San Francisco and Rodolfo Mota of Santa Ana each took home $30,000.