Illinois Family: Big Game Bucks & Beer

A couple who owns a brewing company claimed half of last week's $363 million Big Game jackpot Friday and said they plan to "have a lot of fun" and take a trip to Ireland with the money.

Joe Kainz lives with his wife, Sue, in Tower Lakes, a Lake County suburb north of Chicago. He bought the winning ticket at a gas station/convenience store in Lake Zurich.

They plan to pay some bills and expand their business with their lump-sum winnings of about $90 million before taxes.

The couple, who operates a medical supply company, owns the Wild Onion Brewing Co. in Lake Barrington. Their three adult children -- Michael, 34; Patrick, 29; and John, 26 -- all work for the family microbrewery.

The couple's $181.5 million prize was reduced because they chose to take it in one lump sum.

Kainz, accompanied by his wife of 40 years and family at a news conference, told reporters Friday that he routinely buys lottery tickets. He recalled checking his Big Game ticket and realizing the first numbers matched.

"I never get the last number, and I was afraid to look...I can't tell you what I said to myself," he said. "I felt my stomach retreat down to the lower portion in my body.

"I didn't dance because I don't do that very well. I did kind of hobble around because all my parts were down in the lower end," the 64-year-old Kainz said.

They are splitting the coveted prize with Larry Ross -- a swimming pool installer from Michigan -- the only other ticket holder with the six winning numbers. Last week Ross said he'd buy a new house and a purple Jaguar.

The Kainzes are talking about more modest purchases, at this point. "I want a new roof," Sue Kainz said.

"To me money has never meant anything more than freedom. So, I think we have quite a bit of it here," she said.

Kainz said he and his wife do not plan to retire. Their first goal, he said, is to get the money and "park it" somewhere where it will be safe.

"I normally deal in numbers with one or two zeros. Now, I have all these zeros," said Kainz.

Sue Kainz, 62, said one reason they want to go to Ireland is that half of her heritage is from Ireland.

The $363 million prize won by the Illinois family and the Michigan couple was the biggest lottery jackpot in U.S. history, but the biggest individual payout is still the $197 million awarded last year to a Massachusetts woman.

Michigan lottery officials said they were contacted within hours of the May 9 drawing by the other winners, Larry and Nancy Ross of Lansing, Mich.

Illinois' winning ticket was a computerized "quick pick" sold at 1:15 p.m. last Tuesday in the Sweeney Oil gas station and convenience store. Owner John Sweeney gets $1.8 million from the lottery as a seller's commission.

The winning numbers were 1, 2, 12, 33, 37 and Big Money Ball 4. To win, a ticket had to match all six numbers odds oone in more than 76 million.

The Big Game is played in Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey and Virginia.

He and his wife Nancy, 45, have been married 25 years. They have three children: Ian, 21, Eric, 25, Shannon, 12.

State lottery officials said they were contacted Wednesday by a "remarkably quite calm" man they believed held one of the winning tickets, worth about $181 million.

Ross bought the ticket at Mr. K's Party Shoppe, located in a strip mall near the quiet suburb of Utica, 20 miles north of Detroit.

He said his family plans to move from their four-bedroom ranch in Shelby Township to a more secure neighborhood somewhere in Michigan.

"You have the ecstasy of winning and then you start realizing the agony of what might happen," he said. "You've got security problems now. You think about your family, who's at risk. We're not in a secure neighborhood. We don't have security like rich people have."

He said he certainly didn't expect to win, though has some plans n how to spend a little of the money.
"We dream to retire. A new car, a big home. I guess I'd like to start a new job playing golf. And maybe a boat is in our future. We haven't had a summer vacation in 13 years," Ross said.

And his wife will get that purple jaguar she's always wanted, he said.

The drawing Tuesday capped days of frenzy that sent lottery veterans and first-timers alike scurrying for $1 chances at the big dream. By the time it was over, the seven states that jointly offer the Big Game had sold some 358 million tickets after the previous jackpot -- $15 million, in the Feb. 11 drawing, was claimed by L.E. Bird of Warren.

How much the winners will take home depends on state taxes in Michigan and Illinois. Gilmer estimated the Michigan winner would get about $7 million a year over the next 26 years, before taxes. He said he couldn't give an after-tax figure.

There were 72 tickets matching all the numbers except the Big Money Ball. Each is worth $150,000 before taxes.

The jackpot easily topped the previous American record, a $295.7 million Powerball jackpot split two years ago by 13 machinists in Westerville, Ohio.

Previously, the largest Big Game jackpot was $197 million awarded solely to Maria Grasso, a 54-year-old Chilean immigrant living in Massachusetts. She won in the April 6, 1999 drawing.

The world lottery record is $1.2 billion, set in December by Spain's El Gordo, or the Fat One. But that game awards thousands of prizes.