Lottery Winners Give Entire Jackpot Away

Allen and Violet Large say keeping money would have been 'headache'
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Nov 5, 2010 12:31 PM CDT
Lottery Winners Give Entire Jackpot Away
In this July 9, 2010 photo, Frank Gutierrez buys lottery tickets at the Times Market in Bishop, Texas.   (AP Photo/Steve Nurenberg)

When you’re daydreaming about winning the lottery, you probably don’t imagine giving the entire $11.2 million jackpot away. But that’s exactly what Canadian couple Allen and Violet Large did. “What you’ve never had, you never miss,” explains Violet, 78. The retired couple is “not millionaires, but comfortable,” says Allen, 75. So when they found themselves lotto winners, they made sure their family was taken care of, then donated the rest of the money to organizations including the fire department, the Red Cross, and the Salvation Army, reports the Chronicle Herald of Nova Scotia.

The money “was a big headache,” Allen explains. The Larges, married 36 years, don’t travel, gamble, or buy things they don’t need—and they “have an old house, but we’re comfortable and we’re happy in it,” Violet says. She was undergoing treatment for cancer when they won, and her husband says the money “was nothing. We have each other.” Finished with treatment, Violet says, “We’re the lucky ones. I have no complaints.” Click here to read about a young lotto winner who didn't give her money away—but lost it all anyway.
(More lotto stories.)

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