Texas woman, New York man win millions

Monday, May 1, 2000 | 9:47 a.m.

A Texas woman says she's going to buy her son that $13,000 Babe Ruth-autographed baseball he's been wanting.

The money may be pocket change now for 51-year-old Vernia Thora of Midlothian, Texas. Thora won $3,889,527 Sunday on a Wheel of Fortune MegaJackpot at The Mirage hotel-casino on the Las Vegas Strip.

"I flippantly told my son I'd buy him the $13,000 Babe Ruth-signed baseball he had been eyeing to add to his memorabilia collection if I won," Thora said. "I'm going to do that for him."

Now, she said she'll buy the baseball, and will continue working at her job as accounting manager for Speed Release gun locks.

She said the big jackpot just gives her more freedom to enjoy her family, and to put away some money for college for her children and grandchildren.

Thora hit her jackpot less than 24 hours after a 45-year-old man from Brightwater, N.Y. won $2,713,804 playing a Wheel of Fortune jackpot machine at the new Paris-Las Vegas hotel-casino. The man, who invested $20 before hitting the jackpot, wants to remain anonymous. He hasn't decided whether to retire from his job in industrial management.

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