WINNING THE BIG ONE

HOW MULTIMILLION DOLLAR JACKPOTS CHANGED THE LIVES OF THREE WINNERS

-  MICHAEL KAPLAN

Reports in the media are rife with stories about lottery curses—people winning fortunes, making questionable investments, going broke—and it’s said that 70 percent of lottery winners wind up busted or at least something close. Such has been the fate for mad splurgers who bought such things as thoroughbred racehorses, dozens of luxury cars and even a full-on water park.

But, for the smart 30 percent, life is sweet after winning Powerball, Mega Millions or another major lottery prize. Of course, the happy people are the ones who keep clear heads, don’t get carried away with themselves, play it cool, and align with good lawyers and investment advisers. Time on the veranda with glasses of Macallan 25 and boxes of Montecristo No. 2 cigars in the humidor don’t hurt either.

Here are three winners who made the best of it.

After Ken Covert snagged $2.8 million in the 2007 Idaho lottery, the first smart thing he did was wait 37 days to come forward and claim his prize. Doing justice to his name, Covert managed to ignore speculation in the local news as to who the big winner might be. Instead of basking in the limelight, he took care of a few things on his job, got matters in place with a financial planner and, maybe smartest of all, continued to work and did what he could to maintain normalcy.