Over the years there have been many SuperLotto Plus jackpot winners, with thousands of millionaires created by the California Lottery to date. These California Lottery winners have come from all walks of life and have spent their millions in many various ways. Many of the big California Lottery winners have turned their hand to philanthropy, giving away millions of dollars to needy causes, while others have used their lottery prizes to provide financial security for their families while indulging a little too.
Philanthropy is a word that we often hear used when describing lottery jackpot winners but never was the term truer than when Cynthia Stafford, her father and brother scooped $112 million playing the SuperLotto Plus in May 2007. In 1999 one of Cynthia's brothers was killed in a car crash, leaving behind five young children. Cynthia applied for custody of the children and became an overnight mum to all five. Cynthia had to leave her job and turn to a variety of social service agencies and non profit organisations to help her get by. However, in 2007 Cynthia and her family became some of the biggest California numbers winners in the history of the draw. This huge financial relief seems deserved enough but Cynthia decided to give back some of the help that she and her family had received.
Since becoming some of the biggest California Lottery winners in the history of the SuperLotto Plus draw Cynthia and her family have assisted a wide range of charities. Cynthia chose her charities carefully, examining their missions, goals and initiatives before assisting them. These charities include; international children's charity UNICEF, Kids in the Spotlight, which is a scheme to help inner city and foster kids, wildlife charity Natural Resources Defense Council plus a donation of $1 million to the Geffen Playhouse, which is a not for profit performing arts theatre.
It's not just the lucky California Lottery winners who benefit from these huge windfalls. Every time that a player matches all of the lucky California numbers along with the Mega number to scoop the jackpot the retailer who sold them the ticket will also receive a reward. Any store that sells a winning California Lottery ticket receives a 0.05% payout, which is equivalent to half a million dollars for the store when a $100 million jackpot is won with a ticket bought there.
Every time that a player selects California numbers and buys tickets, money goes to education within California. For every dollar spent playing California Lottery draws and games at least 34 cents makes its way into classrooms across the state. In 2007/2008 over one billion dollars from ticket sales was used to fund over eight million students and pupils to study in California. It's not just schools that receive funding; a range of other education facilities such as colleges, universities, adult education and even juvenile correctional facilities also benefit every time that you choose your California numbers and buy your lottery tickets online.