Baby-Sitter Quits Job; Was It the Lottery Ticket?

In an instant, Maria Grasso went from baby-sitter for a millionaire to millionaire baby-sitter.

The 54-year-old Chilean immigrant came forward Wednesday to claim the $197-million Big Game jackpot, the world’s biggest lottery prize ever won by one person. She beat odds of 76 million-to-1.

“I couldn’t believe it,” she said. “I haven’t had time to think clearly.”

She decided to take the money in a lump sum of $104 million-- $70.2 million after taxes--instead of in 26 annual installments.

The divorced mother of two said she is not sure what she will do with the money, but she mentioned her family and disabled children as priorities.

Since finding out she won on April 6, her only major purchase was the navy blue suit she wore to the news conference at state lottery headquarters. “I’m a very down-to-earth person,” she said.

Until she quit last week, Grasso worked for the family of Chris Gabrieli, a Boston venture capitalist who ran for Congress last year. Since 1996, she has lived in the family’s Beacon Hill townhouse and looked after Gabrieli’s children. There are four children, ages 1 to 5.

“She’s the kind of person who deserves a good turn in life,” said Gabrieli, who is worth somewhere between $25 million and $125 million himself, according to campaign records.

Grasso bought the winning ticket at a grocery store near baseball’s Fenway Park while shopping for the family. Grasso said she does not play the lottery regularly but did this time because the jackpot was so big.

She said she chose the winning numbers at random. With the winning ticket beside her bed, she had difficulty sleeping the night she won.

“At first I couldn’t believe that it could be,” Grasso said. “There are so many million chances.”

Grasso, one of six children, came to the United States in 1971, earned her high school equivalency diploma in 1976 and became a citizen in 1984. She has worked as a teaching assistant for the mentally disabled.

“This has been my priority, to work with children, special needs children,” she said. “I think this will be a chance for me to keep helping.”

She also will be able to help her family--both her two grown children and her relatives in Chile.

“She fully deserves what has happened to her,” a woman named Ana, who said she is Grasso’s sister, told National Television in Chile. “She has worked hard all her life to help her family, especially our mother.”

The Big Game jackpot swelled to $197 million when no one won the twice-a-week drawing from Feb. 2 until April 6. During that period, 328 million tickets were sold in the six Big Game states--Massachusetts, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan and Virginia.

Grasso said she waited until Wednesday to come forward because she needed time to get a lawyer and clear her head.

The nation’s biggest jackpot was $295 million, but that was split last July by 13 Ohio machinists who pooled their ticket purchases.

A 1997 lottery drawing in Spain--named El Gordo, or the Fat One--had a $270-million purse, the richest in the world. But the money was split among many winners, and the biggest single prize was only $2 million.