Woman Wins $72 Million But Still Wants To Work

Marcia Adams of College Park, Ga., and her boyfriend went to a convenience store to buy a chocolate candy bar and decided to purchase two Quik Pik lottery tickets. The tickets were bought less than an hour before the drawing, and two days later, she was $72 million richer.

Adams and her boyfriend, whose name has not been released, purchased their tickets at a Chevron Food Mart and had actually forgotten that they had done so. As Adams and her boyfriend were driving to work on Thursday morning, she noticed a billboard along the highway that prompted her to check the lotto tickets, which had been thrown in the vehicle’s center console. Adams’ boyfriend checked the lotto ticket numbers on his cell phone then suddenly began screaming her name. After rechecking the numbers, the couple went to a nearby retailer and checked their tickets yet again. Even though her ticket perfectly matched the winning numbers, Adams still needed more proof.

After lotto officials sanctioned the legitimacy of her winning ticket, 33-year-old Adams was still a disbeliever. It still hasn’t set in, she said. It seems like it’s somebody else besides me.

Now that she finally believes that she won, Adams, a corporate accountant who has been on her job for the last 12 years, doesn’t plan on quitting her job anytime soon. She actually wants to continue working:

I love what I do. I have a purpose.
For her winnings, Adams opted to take the cash option, which leaves her with $52 million. After Uncle Sam takes its just desserts, Adams will still have $33.8 million in mad money.

What does she plan on doing with her newfound wealth?

Adams wants to hire a financial planner in order to stretch her dollars and make savvy money moves. Marrying her boyfriend of seven years and planning their wedding is also on her agenda. Otherwise, Adams mainly wants to focus on her family, particularly her retired parents who are experiencing medical issues.

The only extravagant purchase Adams plans to make is to buy another house:

I’ll probably get another house, only because now, my name is out, she says.