Teenager’s Share of Lotto Winnings Will Go to Mother Instead
Thirteen is not such a lucky number after all. Make that 12 Starbucks employees who will share the $87-million SuperLotto Plus jackpot.
On Wednesday, officials of the California Lottery acknowledged they had goofed.
The state announced with great fanfare Tuesday that 13 employees of the Starbucks on South La Brea Avenue had claimed the fourth largest jackpot in California Lottery history. The story of the 13 lucky employees was reported on television, radio and newspapers across the country.
However, that number included Keana Essex, 16, a junior at Alexander Hamilton High School who slings coffee drinks part time. At a Lottery-organized news conference in Van Nuys, the teenager spoke about using her winnings for college. She wants to be a doctor.
Problem is, it’s illegal for anyone under 18 to play the California Lottery.
The money will go to mom instead.
“It’s really a big blessing,” Kellye Richard, Keana’s mother, said Wednesday.
She is a single mother of four who has worked as many as three jobs at a time--airline employee, model and Macy’s saleswoman. The windfall, she said, will be used for her entire family. Her other children are 7, 11 and 18.
“God has worked this out,” said Richard, 38.
The winning ticket was intended for the mother all along, said Mary Ann Champaine, the Starbucks manager. Champaine bought 13 $1 tickets--one of which included the winning combination--at a nearby liquor store on Saturday. She acts as a kind of surrogate mother for her staff.
Champaine, back at her Starbucks post on Wednesday, said she knew all along that minors could not play the Lottery. Before buying the tickets, Champaine said, she telephoned Richard to ask whether the mother would be included in the pool on behalf of her daughter.
“Sure, count me in,” Richard responded.
Champaine, a 53-year-old grandmother, put up the $1 investment for Richard and several other coworkers. She said she has since been paid back.
Norma Minas, a spokeswoman for the Lottery, said each winning claim is routinely investigated to be sure all ticket holders qualify to win. But, she said, the fact that a worker’s mother was among the winners escaped notice when the Lottery sent out a media advisory announcing that 13 Starbucks employees had won.
“There was a fact there that was inadvertently not picked up,” said Minas. “We do not pay tickets to minors.”
The 13 winners, including Richard, will each pocket a total of $6,692,307, minus a 28% federal withholding tax. The money will be paid in annual installments over 26 years, beginning at $167,000 and growing to $341,000.
