6/6/2005 Manuel Garcia of Fort Stockton was bound and determined to buy a $10 Texas Lottery ticket, but the Town &Country store he walked into didn't have any. So he bought two $5 tickets and won $500 per week for five years, the top prize in $130,000 Bonus.
Garcia is the fourth winner of the top prize since the game was released in April. This was the first time he played $130,000 Bonus.
"I didn't believe it, at first," Garcia said. "I asked the clerk to run it through the terminal. When it came up a winner, a young woman standing next to me started screaming. It still hasn't hit me, though."
"Nobody ever believes it at first," said Texas Lottery Commission Executive Director Reagan E. Greer. "When the person standing next to you in line, someone you don't know, starts screaming because you won a big prize, you know it's got to be exciting."
Garcia said he doesn't have big plans for his win just yet.
"Right now, I'm looking at paying off a bunch of bills and my wife's van," he said. "The rest will go to pay for my kid's education."
One top cash prize remains unclaimed for the $130,000 Bonus game. The game has more than 1 million other prizes of $1000, $500, $100, $75, $50, $30, $15, $10 and $5.
Garcia bought his ticket at the Town & Country #49, 1401 S Gaston, in Crane. |