A Las Vegas man plans to retire his home loan with a $55,000 prize from the New Mexico Lottery.
Quirino Baca matched all five numbers – 5, 9, 16, 18 and 33 – in the Roadrunner Cash drawing for Dec. 8, but the 38-year-old construction foreman didn’t know he was a prize winner until a week later when his daughter checked the ticket for him at a lottery retailer.
Quirino Baca and his wife, Yvonne, waited in their truck where they could see 18-year-old Ashley through the store window.
“She started jumping up and down,” Yvonne Baca recalled. “Then she came running out and said she was getting a car for Christmas. Then she ran back into the store.”
Still unaware that their ticket was a prizewinner, the Bacas waited another 10 minutes before following their excited daughter inside and hearing the news.
Is Ashley getting a car for Christmas?
“We haven’t decided yet,” Yvonne Baca said, smiling at her daughter, “but we know we’re going to pay off the house.”
Ashley, a nursing student enrolled at Luna Community College, agreed that the paying off the home loan would be a wise financial decision.
Quirino Baca purchased his ticket at Franken Tire & Convenience at 612 Mountain View in Las Vegas. This lottery retailer has sold 18 other large prize winning tickets ranging between $1,000 and $39,000.
Lottery Beneficiaries in San Miguel County
All net revenues from the sale of lottery games benefit the Legislative Lottery Scholarship program, which provides tuition assistance for New Mexico residents attending the state’s public colleges and universities.
Since its inception in 1996, the lottery has raised $337 million for public education in New Mexico and more than 48,000 have received Legislative Lottery Scholarships.
As of the Spring 2006
semester, 12,900 high school graduates from Bernalillo County have
received nearly $61 million in Legislative Lottery Scholarships to attend
college. More than 4,400 of those students have graduated from college.
As of the Spring 2007 semester, more than 880 high school graduates from San Miguel County have received $3.3 million in Legislative Lottery Scholarships. More than 350 of those students have graduated from college. Information on Legislative Lottery Scholarships is available at
www.nmlottery.com
