Hot Lotto Check Presentation

Albuquerque Man Claims $5.6 Million Hot Lotto Jackpot

Net Revenues Support Legislative Lottery Scholarships

February 11, 2008

ALBUQUERQUE – An Albuquerque man came forward today to claim a $5.6 million Hot Lotto jackpot from the New Mexico Lottery.

David C. Fort, 55, held a ticket with the numbers 5, 11, 14, 17, 20 and the Hot Ball of 2, which matched the winning numbers drawn on Saturday evening.  On Sunday morning, he discovered his windfall after checking his ticket’s numbers against the numbers posted at the New Mexico Lottery’s website.   

“I got down on my knees and thanked God,” Fort said.
Fort then woke his wife to share the news.
“He was crying,” Lois Fort said.  “I thought we had lost someone.”

Fort, who works as a finance manager at Galles Chevrolet in Albuquerque, buys Hot Lotto tickets every week. 

The Forts plan to spend the $5.6 million windfall helping their large extended family.  Immediate plans include purchasing homes for their mothers and taking their family on a cruise to Alaska. 

“There’s no better way to start a Monday than by meeting a newly minted millionaire,” said Lottery CEO Tom Romero.  “I congratulate the Forts on their good fortune and thank them for supporting lottery games and the Legislative Lottery Scholarship program.”

The winning ticket was purchased at the Chevron Redi-Mart No. 20 at 1723 Lomas, NE, in Albuquerque.

Fort is the second Hot Lotto jackpot winner from New Mexico.  On Aug. 4, 2007, Edward Boyd of Farmington won the New Mexico Lottery’s first Hot Lotto jackpot.  Boyd and a player in Minnesota shared the estimated $2 million annuity jackpot equally.

Hot Lotto was launched in New Mexico in November 2006.  Nicknamed “Little Powerball,” the game is played in Delaware, the District of Columbia, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Montana, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota and West Virginia.  The odds of winning the Hot Lotto jackpot are one in nearly 11 million.  Overall odds of winning any prize playing Hot Lotto are 1 in 16.  Hot Lotto jackpots begin at $1 million and increase by a minimum of $50,000 per drawing until someone wins. 

$340 Million Raised for Education   

Since its inception in 1996, the lottery has raised $340 million for public education in New Mexico and more than 48,000 students have received Legislative Lottery Scholarships.    

 As of the Spring 2007 semester, more than 14,500 high school graduates from Bernalillo County have received $74.4 million in Legislative Lottery Scholarships.

Information on Legislative Lottery Scholarships is available at www.nmlottery.com..