Riches Won’t Change This Lotto Winner : Ventura: Louie Asimakis hit the $11.2-million jackpot last weekend. But the 80-year-old former oil driller already lives the life he wants.

Twice a week for seven years, Louie Asimakis bet $10 on his favorite Lotto numbers. Then last Saturday, weary of his luck, the retired oil-well driller cast his lot with a computer.

“I played the same numbers over and over and over. I spent maybe $10,000. And the best I ever got was $63,” said Asimakis, 80, of Ventura. “So I finally just tore up my ticket and went Quick Pick on Saturday.”

The result, state lottery officials said, was an $11.2-million Super Lotto jackpot, the third-largest prize ever to a Ventura County resident. An Oxnard man won $15.7 million in May, and a Simi Valley woman won $17.1 million in 1990.

Asimakis and his wife, Geraldine--who live in a small house in a modest neighborhood near Ventura College--will receive their first $404,640 check within six weeks, lottery officials said. Then they’ll get another annually for 20 years.

Not that the money really makes much difference, said the short and stocky Asimakis, who is proud to have worked his way up from roughneck to driller over 32 years in the Ventura oil fields before retiring from Shell Oil Co. in 1972.

Asimakis said he and his wife--herself a World War II noncombat flyer--celebrated their prize Sunday night in typical family fashion, sharing champagne and a bucket of chicken with friends.

“My neighbors say, ‘Louie, since you got all that money, are you going to move?’ ” Asimakis said. “But I’m going to stay right here. I’ve been here 40-some-odd years and my wife was born and raised here.

“I’ll get a new roof put on this house and new carpet and new drapes. And that’s it,” he said. “We like this neighborhood and we’re going to stay put.”

No fancy new cars for Asimakis. His 1979 El Camino will do just fine, he said.

“We’ll spend it on travel,” he said. “And we’ll invest our money.”

The couple already has seen much of the world in retirement, taking cruises to dozens of countries in annual trips during their 15 years of marriage.

He’ll also make sure that his two adult children, Dorothy Asimakis of Ventura and Pete Asimakis of Piru, are provided for, he said. And Geraldine’s daughter, Calleen Whitton of Ventura, will share in the family’s good luck, they said.

But otherwise, “this won’t change anything,” Asimakis said. “I’ve been this way all my life, and I ain’t going to change now. Nope, it’s going to be the same Louie. Just because I get a few nickels won’t change me. I’m the same. That’s it.”

And if his friends should hit him up for a loan?

“You know they will,” he said with a laugh. “I’ll just leave that up to my wife. She handles the money. She’s the boss.”

Although Asimakis took his good fortune with extraordinary calm, he said his blood began rushing Sunday morning, when he fetched the paper from his front step and began to check his tickets against the winning number: 12-20-27-30-44-49.

“I wrote the first two numbers on the paper, and I had two of two,” he recalled. “I wrote the next two down and I had four of four. Then I saw 44 and 49, and I couldn’t believe it. I woke up my wife and she didn’t believe it. She said the paper makes a lot of mistakes.”

It took only a glance from Amy Capper, general manager of Mandell’s Liquor and Wine, to confirm Asimakis’ victory Sunday morning.

Capper said she and Asimakis have had a running joke that when he won the jackpot, he would buy her a hamburger. And Sunday morning, Asimakis said the manager said, “I’m hungry, Louie.”

As the store that sold the winning ticket, Mandell’s will get about $55,000, less taxes, said lottery official Steven Freund.

Capper described Asimakis as a loyal customer who is outgoing and likable.

“He’s one of the friendliest guys I’ve ever met,” she said.

“He came into the store about three or four times” Sunday checking his ticket against the winning numbers and asking questions, Capper said. Then he came by Monday afternoon to see if the store owner and manager would attend today’s news conference.

Asimakis also called the lottery’s office in Ventura two or three times early Monday, asking about claiming the prize. But he wouldn’t give his name until he showed up about 3 p.m., with his wife and financial planner at his side, Freund said.

“He’s kind of still in a daze,” Freund said. “He didn’t believe it when it first happened. He still doesn’t.”

But it seemed to have sunk in by Monday evening.

“Where are you going now, Louie?” a friend asked.

“The Canary Islands,” he said. Just where he and his wife had planned to travel before their good luck got even better Saturday night.