Winning is a Lotto fun

Dave Brooks

Kim and George Szabo have finally figured out a way to afford a home

in Huntington Beach -- win the lottery.

On Tuesday, the Surf City couple attended a packed press

conference at lottery offices in Santa Ana to announce that they had

one of three winning tickets for a share of the SuperLOTTO Plus

$100-million jackpot, the seventh biggest in California’s history.

After splitting the prize with two other winners from Northern

California and paying taxes, the Szabos stand to take home about

$13.5 million, which they will receive in a lump sum in about four to

six weeks.

“My priority is going to be investing this money wisely, no risky

business,” George Sbazo told a packed room while his wife, daughter

and stepson looked on. “We don’t want to change our lives, and we

don’t want our marriage to change. We’re just going to keep it real.”

In the short-term, the Szabos plan to pay for a remodel of Kim’s

mother’s home, where they’ve lived for the past five years to save

money to buy a house.

Their hopes of landing something affordable have now been upgraded

to a “dream home,” somewhere in Huntington Beach where they have both

lived their entire lives. There’s also going to be money set aside

for college, and Kim Szabo said she wants to take a few trips

overseas and visit Hungary, where George Szabo’s father was born.

The children have their own wish lists. Daughter Alexa, 8, said

she wanted her own horse and Zack, 14, is hoping to score a black

Ferrari when he starts driving. George Szabo said he’ll think about

it.

“One thing I really want for myself is a new boat,” he said. “I

love fishing, that’s my thing.”

George Szabo says he won’t be quitting his job in the near future.

The electrician with the International Brotherhood of Electrical

Workers said he will continue to remain employed in the short term

and plans to maintain strong ties with his union friends, although he

thinks his winnings are more than enough to retire on.

The couple purchased the ticket at Cal-Va Dairy, a drive-through

convenience store at the corner of Edwards Street and Edinger Avenue.

For selling the winning ticket, storeowner Ronald Kien will be

awarded $167,000, which he plans to use to pay several debts.

“Oh this is super great,” Kien said. “When I found out, I shouted

over to my wife to come over to the counter, and she said ‘What, did

somebody just rob you?’”

The winning lottery ticket was purchased with coins scrapped from

the bottom of Kim Szabo’s purse, and came within pennies of the $2

she needed to buy the winner and another ticket using the quick picks

program -- a computer randomly generates the numbers for the

customers.

“When the news came on, I told my wife to hurry and get the

tickets while I wrote down the winning numbers,” 17, 18, 28, 33, 39

and 19, he said. “When I looked at the ticket, I thought to myself

‘Wait a minute, why did I just write down the numbers of my own

ticket,’ when I realized what had just happened. After that I shouted

‘Honey, we just won!’”

* DAVE BROOKS covers City Hall. He can be reached at (714)

965-7173 or by e-mail at dave.brooks@latimes.com.