Lottery Winners Spurn New Cars, Pay Off Loan on Old One

FOND DU LAC, Wis. —  With their record lottery jackpot, Leslie C. Robins and Colleen DeVries can afford to buy a nice car--or even a fleet of cars.

Instead, the couple said Friday they would prefer to pay off the Ford Probe they already have, keep their jobs and get out of the limelight.

“Obviously, our lives are going to change,” Robins said after a ceremony celebrating their $111-million Powerball payoff. “Our lifestyles may change, but we hope to keep our values the same.”

Robins, 30, said he plans to keep working as an English teacher. DeVries, 24, said she would keep her job as a hospital nurse.

“We have careers that we both worked really hard to achieve,” she said. “We enjoy what we do.”

Robins, who earns $30,000 a year as a teacher, said he occasionally gets letters of thanks from former students. “It may sound corny to some people, but you can’t replace those types of letters with any amount of money,” he said.

The payoff from a Powerball drawing July 7 is the largest sum for a lone ticket holder in the history of U.S. lotteries. Robins delayed cashing it until he was assured that the lottery would issue separate checks to him and his fiancee, who have lived together for two years. Dane County Circuit Judge Gerald Nichol granted that request Thursday.

The couple returned Friday to the supermarket where Robins bought the ticket to pick up ceremonial checks of $55,620,231.55--nearly three times the annual operating budget of Fond du Lac, 70 miles north of Milwaukee and home to 37,000 people.

Each will receive annual checks of about $1.8 million, after taxes, for the next 20 years.

Even split in half, the jackpot for each of them is larger than the previous largest lottery prize in U.S. history going to an individual. A Florida woman won $55.16 million in a 1988 drawing.

The couple, who share a one-bedroom apartment, said they have paid off some bills, including a car loan, but have made no other plans for the money.

But one immediate goal for the couple is getting out of the spotlight. State lottery officials announced that the news conference Friday would be their last public appearance as lottery winners.

Robins said he purchased 10 tickets for the July 7 drawing and let a lottery computer pick the numbers.

Initially, he thought he won $1. Then, he realized all six numbers matched.