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01-03-05 05:47 AM |
Lottery Winner
BOSTON (AP) - A 94-year-old woman who won a $5.6 million dollar Megabucks lottery drawing in September wants to get the cash now instead of a 20-year annuity payout.
Louise Outing of Everett said she won't live to collect her full winnings, and she wants to be able to help her family and spend the money as she chooses.
``In March, I will be 95 years old. Do you realize that? Ninety-five in March. Now, you know I'm not going to live another 20 years,'' she told The Boston Globe.
On Tuesday, she asked Norfolk Superior Court Judge Barbara Dortch-Okara to order the state lottery commission to give her the full amount of her winnings, minus taxes.
Her lawyer, James Dilday, said there's no reason the state can't give her the $3.5 million it paid a bank for her 20-year annuity. It pays her a net $196,639 a year. Dilday said lottery winners can choose which option they want.
But the lottery commission said Megabucks winners have never been paid lump-sum amounts. Executive Director Joseph Sullivan said only the multistate Mega Millions game offers a lump-sum option. He said Outing's beneficiaries will collect her winnings if she dies before the payout is complete.
``We are just going to have to sit tight and see what the court rules,'' Sullivan said.
Outing, a retired waitress, says she wants the money to take care of her seven grandchildren, nine great-grandchildren, and six great-great-grandchildren. She has outlived her husband and six children.
She said she will appeal if the court rules against her.
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