Most Viewed Stories
Most Commented Stories
Most Recommended Stories
Save & Share this Article
Elida man wins $1.1 million in lottery
Comments 0 | Recommend 0A 71-year-old Elida man has won $1.1 million in the New Mexico Lottery.
Aurbra King had the nation’s only ticket matching the winning numbers in the Nov. 18 Hot Lotto jackpot drawing, beating odds of one in almost 11 million, according to a news release from the New Mexico Lottery.
King claimed his prize in person Monday in Albuquerque.
King chose to take the prize’s pre-tax cash option of about $720,000, according to the release.
“Things like this, they don’t get me too excited,” King said.
Brantley King, Aurbra King’s son, said his father has played the lottery in some form since its inception and Hot Lotto for several months.
“He just enjoys it, that’s all,” Brantley King said. “He had big hopes and big dreams of winning and finally did.”
So how does the family feel now?
“Actually no different than we did when we didn’t have anything,” Brantley King said.
Brantley King said his father hadn’t decided how to use the money, but he would pay off bills.
Lottery spokeswoman Linda Hamlin said Aurbra King plans to share the money with his four children, 11 grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.
Aurbra King bought his winning ticket last week at the Allsup’s in Elida using the same six numbers he had been playing for several months, according to the release.
He didn’t find out he had won until Friday.
Brantley King said he and his wife came to visit Aurbra King and told him they had heard on the news that someone had won the jackpot but hadn’t claimed it. They compared Aurbra King’s numbers with the winning ones and realized they matched.
A call to the lottery commission secured instructions on how to proceed.
According to the release, Aurbra King is New Mexico’s third Hot Lotto jackpot winner since the state joined the game, played in 15 U.S. lotteries, in November 2006.
Brantley King said the family’s phones had been ringing constantly and they had been on the news from multiple television stations.
Finally, will Aurbra keep playing the lottery?
Definitely, his son said.
