A woman in Southwestern Pennsylvania is now a millionaire, thanks in part to a suggestion from a Giant Eagle store clerk.
The PA Lottery presented a $1.5 million check on Thursday to Rita Franczyk of Westmoreland County after she hit the jackpot playing the Scratch-Off game “$1,500,000 Super Star”
Franczyk was making a typical trip to the Giant Eagle in Allegheny Township for coffee, milk and prescriptions after a clerk encouraged her to try one of the new $30 tickets, compared to the $5 Scratch-Offs she usually buys.
“I said, ‘Whoa!’ but I bought it,” Franczyk recalled. “I won $50 on the first ticket I got. I told the clerk, ‘Thank you, you’re a great friend!’”
Then, a few days later, she bought another ticket of the same game and “That second ticket turned out to be the big winner!” said Franczyk. “I called my daughter right way and said, ‘According to the store, I’m a millionaire!' My daughter said, ‘Yeah right, mom.’ I said, ‘I’m not kidding!’”
The grandmother of three and great-grandmother of seven is now able to buy her own house after a rent increase and a burst pipe forced her to move in with her daughter.
