FX.co ★ Lottery: pensioner wins $326 million jackpot

An American dream of a simple pensioner has come true! Participation in one of the most popular in the United States draw lotteries - Mega Millions - brought a jackpot of the whopping $326 million to Harold Diamond. The winner is 80 years old. He worked as an elementary school teacher in New York for all his life. The pensioner did not use advanced maths while sharing the prize. The arithmetic is quite simple. Diamond wants to get a single lump sum payment in the amount of $197 million immediately. Then he plans to give money back to the local community and to get the rest amount. Otherwise, the plans of the lucky man coincide with the dreams of ordinary teachers who won several million dollars. He is still deciding how to put that money to good use. The only wish is to spend some money on vacation to Hawaii as a present for his wife in honor of their 55th wedding anniversary. “I simply can’t envision that kind of money. It’s very hard to fathom. Right now we’re on cloud 9,” said Harold to reporters, adding that they’re “very lucky, very fortunate … and very humbled” by this experience. As for the winning lottery ticket, the couple bought it by chance, and did not follow the drawing progress. Harold Diamond went to play golf the next day. The guys in the clubhouse were talking about the jackpot-winning ticket someone bought at a Valero on Route 302. After that he decided to check his lottery ticket numbers. Diamond's wife said that not believing their good fortune they checked the numbers again and again. Harold read them going forward and Carol checked them reading backward before they believed in what had happened. Let’s be happy about the winner and wish good luck to all!