Part-time letter carrier wins lottery jackpot

Tom Stuckey

Thursday, July 3, 2003 | 9:54 a.m.

ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- When Bernadette Gietka looked at the lottery ticket she had just bought and noticed it began with the numbers "one, two, three," she thought she had a loser and "might as well throw this one in the can."

Lucky for her she didn't.

The ticket, one of four she bought on a whim while at a store with her mother, was the only winner in the $183 million jackpot drawing for the multi-state Mega Millions lottery game June 20.

Gietka, a 54-year-old part-time letter carrier, made her public debut Wednesday at a news conference with Gov. Robert Ehrlich, lottery officials and members of her family. She handled her brush with fame with aplomb, confidently answering questions and exchanging quips with reporters.

Gietka chose to take all the money at once, making her winnings $112.8 million, which lottery officials said was the second largest payout to an individual winner in U.S. lottery history. After state and federal taxes, she received almost $76.2 million.

The biggest single-ticket winner in the world is Andrew "Jack" Whittaker Jr. of West Virginia. He won a $314.9 million Powerball jackpot on Christmas Day.

Gietka delayed her first public appearance to allow time to consult with financial advisers and get over the stomach-churning realization that she had the winning ticket. "I've finished being sick," she said with a quick smile.

Gietka said she has no plans for any big changes in her life.

She has her eye on a new maroon Corvette convertible with a tan top, but hasn't bought it yet. "It's on hold," she said.

She will probably also buy her first house, but not "the little tiny $62,000 house" she was preparing to buy when she hit the lottery big time.

Gietka plans to keep delivering letters on an occasional basis when the post office needs her, but will give up her other part-time jobs of house sitting, pet sitting and elder care.

Gietka said she does have one big dream which she will continue to pursue -- to convince Walt Disney Pictures to make a movie of her screenplay, which she described as "a futuristic fantasy, sort of like a sequel to the Wizard of Oz."

Gietka was accompanied at the news conference by her parents, Catherine and Bernard Gietka.

Catherine Gietka originally planned to buy 10 lottery tickets when she and her daughter went to Geresbeck's Bi-Rite in eastern Baltimore County on June 19, but decided on five, instead. Bernie Gietka then purchased four tickets, and the machine spit out the winner.

Did Catherine Gietka mind that her daughter got the ticket that could have been hers? "I am glad she bought the ticket because she turns out to be so much smarter than I am," she said.