Lucky for Life Winners
Set For Life offers a top prize of £10,000 a month for 30 years, and the jackpot has been won on a regular basis since the game was launched in March 2019. Here are the stories behind some of the biggest winners.
Brandi Jo Hansen (South Dakota)
Aberdeen resident Hanson paid tribute to her late grandmother after using numbers based around her grandparents' significant dates to win herself the top prize. “It makes me feel like she's watching over me up there,” she said. At 23 years old, Hanson said she had dome the math after being tempted to take the $5.7 million lump sum and decided she could get five times more as an annuity.
She added that she had 'a lot of ideas' for how to spend the money, but the main focus would be on giving back to people, as well as setting up a college fund for her nine-year-old nephew.
Wanda Guzman (Montana)
Guzman became the first player from Montana to win the Lucky for Life jackpot when she matched all the numbers with a ticket bought at the Holiday Stationstore on Northwest Bypass in Great Falls. She was away visiting her daughter when news came through that someone from Big Sky Country had won, along with the location of the winning store.
“That’s our store,” said Guzman, who revealed that her sister still had the ticket back in Great Falls and phoned her to read the numbers out one by one. Guzman added that her plans for the money were ‘just to pay bills and enjoy life’.
Roderick Slaughter (Michigan)
Slaughter, from Detroit in Michigan, revealed that he usually played the in-state Lotto 47 game, but he decided to mix it up on this occasion and was stunned to win the top prize. “I grabbed my phone the morning after the drawing to check my ticket and couldn’t believe it when I realized I had won. I woke my wife up right away saying: ‘Is this real?’”
Slaughter, who played online, added that he would use the money to retire early, travel more, and invest and establish a legacy fund for his grandchildren’s education.
Damian Zepponi (North Carolina)
Winston-Salem resident Zepponi got 2020 off to a perfect start when she hit the jackpot with one of the three Quick Pick tickets she purchased at the Food Lion on Yadkinville Road in Pfafftown. She said her reaction to the win was simply to ‘sit and cry and be amazed’. She decided to take the cash option rather than the annuity, leaving her with just over $4 million after taxes.
Zepponi wanted to invest the money and live off those investments, whilst also setting up a ministry to help others. Her hope was to go on a family vacation with her seven children and four grandchildren for the first time.
Anonymous (Arkansas)
This lucky winner from Arkansas had ordered his ticket via a dedicated courier app, with someone going out to the buy it on his behalf. It proved to be not only a convenient way to play but also very lucky, as he found out the next day at work when he checked his emails and saw a message alerting him to the fact that he had won the top prize.
The man, who stayed anonymous, said his boss told him he was a multimillionaire and that he needed to go home to tell his wife. He said she also needed some convincing that it was real.