Farmers Get A Break With Lotto
The state of Oklahoma is the home of 12 new millionaires. All 12 went in on lottery tickets for the Texas state lottery and spent $120 in total.
Well, that investment paid off because they are collectively $23 million richer. Harlin Mefford, Jimmy Pendergraft and Tom Macom along with their fellow winners spoke with CBS This Morning Correspondent Hattie Kauffman from Bethal Store where they all have lunch daily, even after winning the millions.
The winners pooled their money to buy $120 in lottery tickets. Macom purchased the tickets at a gas station in Quanah, Texas, about 10 miles away. The town of Gould, Okla., where the winners live, has 250 residents and is largely a farming community.
"I got the call Sunday morning for the man I work for, Randy, and said the winning ticket was purchased in Quanah, recalls Macom, who had left the tickets on the dashboard of his pickup truck.
The lottery pool began about five years ago, when the lottery hit $50 million. The group agreed to continue buying tickets, but only when the jackpot grew to at least $20 million. And the 12 decided to buy $120 to $140 worth of tickets each time.
"I couldn't believe it. But it was there in front of me and I had the ticket, so I had to call everybody else and try convince them," Macom says.
It will be at least three weeks before the winners can collect the fortune because of the paperwork involved. They opted for an early cashout, and after taxes could end up with about $500,000 each. None of the winners plan to change life drastically even though times have been hard for many because of poor crops.
Pendergraft, 43, is not a farmer but he says what happens to crops affects his business as he is the manager of the general store. With his share, he plans to "make life a little less stressful and invest part of it," he says.
Mefford, 45, says the group hasn't really felt the full impact of the news since the money has not been collected. But he observes everybody is happy and excited.
"But I don't think most of my life will be much different. It's just not worry as much about making my payments at the bank or not be as concerned about retirement funds, " he says.
"Other than that, we'll probably just keep on doing kind of the same thing we've been doing," Mefford adds.
Macom, who just turned 49 Thursday, says winning the lotto was the best birthday present possible. The money will help alleviate the struggles caused by the last two years of drought, he says.
"We just range from needing it badly to needing it worse," he says. "Man, the only way it could have been any better was to come a little sooner."
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