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Tuesday, December 23, 1997

Lotto ticket bails out unlucky store owner

DALLAS (AP) - Crime, weather and sheer bad luck have plagued Joe Said's little Quick Shop convenience store in northwest Dallas recently.

His shop has been hit in several burglaries. A truck wrecked the front doors in October. The, last weekend, the roof leaked during last weekend's torrential rains.

Throughout, the Jersusalem-born merchant has tried to maintain a positive outlook.

Now, he's about to have about 180,000 reasons to be upbeat.

"One day I was sure something good was going to happen," he said.

His financial salvation: a group of five senior citizens who together bought 25 tickets for last Saturday's drawing. One of them had the winning numbers: 5, 9, 34, 43, 44 and 45, winning $18 million for themselves and a retailer's bonus of about $180,000 for Said.

He knew one of the pool participants by first name, and the customer was the one who told the Jerusalem-born store owner Sunday of their windfall.

"At first I didn't believe him, but then he showed me the ticket," said Said, who grew up in Kuwait and moved to the United States 16 years ago.

The winnings will help ease the pain of some of Said's recent misfortune. Regular customers navigated nine leak-collection buckets throughout the store Sunday to congratulate Said.

"He's had such bad things happen," Becky Eads said. "We're real happy for him."

Unlike actual lottery winnings, ticket vendors receive the full amount of their commissions in a lump sum.

Said is leasing the building and doesn't have to pay for the roof, but the damage has cost him business. Some of the money will go to his two employees, and he hasn't decided what to do with the rest.

"God blesses all the time," Said said. "After all the mischief we've had, I knew he was going to take care of me."

Despite the winnings, Said doesn't play the lottery himself, and he doesn't intend to start now.

"I'm not a gambler," he said. "I gave up gambling a long time ago." Send a Letter to the Editor about This Story | Start or Join A Discussion about This Story
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