
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, May 1, 1990                   TAG: 9005010090
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: By Associated Press
DATELINE: RICHMOND                                LENGTH: Short

LOTTERY WINNER GLAD HE DIDN'T GIVE UP

Persistence paid off Monday for a Norfolk man who won half of the $1.6 million jackpot in the state's Lotto game.

Donald M. Gurecki and his wife, Kathy, came to Virginia Lottery headquarters to pick up their first payment of $41,421 on their $801,421 prize.

The machine shop worker said he bought his ticket Saturday night at Miller's Spur Station in Norfolk after being frustrated by the wait to buy tickets at another store.

"There was a line at the first store I went to, then the machine ran out of tickets and they had to change the paper. I almost didn't buy a ticket, but I didn't want to take a chance of losing out, so I went to the next closest store to buy my five tickets," he said.

Gurecki said he picked the winning combination of 2-13-19-27-35-44 at random. He will get $30,400 after taxes each year for 19 years.

The second person who picked the winning numbers in Saturday's drawing had yet to come forward Monday.

by CNB