Buford HOPE grad triumphs $250K Mega Millions prize

Friday, August 6, 2010

ATLANTA – Michelle Romero, a lottery-funded HOPE Scholarship recipient, is riding a wave of lottery luck. Romero has won a $250,000 second prize from matching the first five winning numbers in the July 27 Mega Millions drawing.

Selecting a combination of her own numbers, the mother of two purchased her lucky ticket at Kroger #0494, 3300 Hamilton Mill Road in Buford.

Winning numbers from the July 27 Mega Millions drawing were: 2-7-10-16-29 and the Mega Ball was 8.

While checking the Georgia Lottery’s Players Club e-mail, she discovered her win.

“I saw the numbers, and they looked really familiar,” recalled Romero, 35. “I got excited.”

Romero has worked 12 years as business owner of a commercial flooring company. She earned a computer science degree from Griffin Technical College in 1998 as a recipient of HOPE.

“That’s why I play,” she said. “Even if I don’t win, little kids are winning. Georgia’s kids are winning.”

Romero and her husband, Otonieo, anticipate paying off bills and saving the remainder of their windfall.

As with all other Georgia Lottery games, proceeds from Mega Millions will benefit education in the state of Georgia. Since its first year, the Georgia Lottery Corp. has returned more than $11.9 billion to the state of Georgia for education. All Georgia Lottery profits go to pay for specific educational programs, including Georgia’s HOPE Scholarship Program and Georgia’s Pre-K Program. More than 1.25 million students have received HOPE, and more than 1 million 4-year-olds have attended the statewide, voluntary prekindergarten program.

For more information on the Georgia Lottery Corp. and Mega Millions, please visit:

www.galottery.com and www.megamillions.com

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Tandi Reddick
Media Relations Manager

P 404.215.5062
F 404.215.8983
media [at] galottery [dot] org

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