Win big, work hard: These lottery players won millions and kept their jobs

“I'm calling in rich” was the famous quote from one lottery winner who couldn't wait to quit her job and finally enjoy a life of leisure. Probably one of the greatest pleasures for any lottery winner is knowing that you'll never have to clock in, wake up early, or sit through another endless staff meeting ever again.

That's why the first action most lottery winners take is to call their bosses and put in their two weeks, or in some cases, two seconds' notice.

Surprisingly, though, not everyone who scores millions is ready to give up their job. Some people find a purpose in their work that they can't replace with a fortune. So even if they collect their prize on a Sunday, they'll still go to work on Monday morning.

These are true stories of lottery players who won big and kept their day jobs.

Mow 'em down

Some lottery winners collect rare watches, while others enjoy taking tropical vacations. For Craig Jones, winning the lottery meant that he would have time to pursue his true passion in life: mowing lawns.

Jones' journey to fortune and lawn care began when the veteran truck driver stopped at a Lassus Bros. Oil in Fort Wayne, Indiana, to fuel up and redeem a free lottery ticket he won from a previous Hoosier Lotto drawing.

With a $15.8 million top prize, the August 14, 2021, Hoosier Lotto had one of the biggest jackpots in the game's history. Still, Jones waited until a few days after the winning numbers were announced to check his ticket. Jones told lottery officials:

I cut grass on Sunday, worked Monday, and didn't think to look at it until Tuesday. The whole time it was in my wallet.

He finally made time to stop at a gas station and scan his ticket, but instead of a number appearing, he read a message that said, “Claim at Hoosier Lottery office in Indianapolis.” He then went home, checked his ticket against the winning numbers, 8, 18, 27, 31, 36, and 42, and saw that they matched. He recalled:

I checked it and had to stumble for my glasses. I just stared at those numbers.

Despite all of the evidence, Jones still wasn't ready to believe that he was a millionaire. He ran out to another convenience store and double checked the numbers there, and that's when he finally started to understand that he had won. Jones said:

I have carried that ticket with me ever since and did not let it out of my sight. I'm overwhelmed, and the emotion has built up in my chest.

Despite his new fortune, Jones says that he plans to keep things simple, and while he may step back from driving semis, he's not ready to stop working just yet. Jones explained:

Retirement is in the plans. I am not a big spender. I may get myself a treat. I love cutting grass and will continue to do that. After driving a semi for many years, I think I'd rather drive a school bus.

Million-dollar caregiver

For 99.9% of people on earth, winning over $100 million means that they would never think of clocking in for work again. However, for one nurse in Sydney, Australia, who chose to remain anonymous, winning a massive Powerball jackpot didn't change much. She recalled for the reporters:

Just like everyone else, I bought my entry before the game, went back to doing what I was doing, and totally forgot about it. It wasn't on my radar at all because it just doesn't happen – people like me don't win, and I still don't think it's truly sunk in yet.

As it turned out, people like her do win: she received a phone call from the Australian Lottery in 2019 informing her that she had won the game's $107 million jackpot.

"I was just as excited for myself as everyone else was for the winner," she said. “It was like I could look at myself from the outside and think, ‘Wow, that's so exciting, I wonder what she's going to do with it?"

While winning such a giant jackpot would usually at least call for a champagne celebration, a party with friends, or a shopping spree, the Nurse decided to stick to the same routine she kept on days when she hadn't won a massive fortune. She recalled:

I got up the next morning and took the kids to school, and had jobs to do and commitments I had to follow through with. People needed me to be the person I always was.

While many lottery winners say they hope the money doesn't change them, the Nurse was genuinely committed to remaining the same person she had been before she won:

I suppose you get to a certain age and you're already the person you are and you're set in a certain way. When you've had these certain habits your whole life, you don't just change them overnight, or at least I chose not to.

And that outlook extends to her job, although she said one of her biggest worries was telling her boss about her big win:

I do have a wonderful work environment, and when I told my boss, she just grabbed me and gave me the biggest hug. She was more worried about if I was going to quit my job, but I told her I needed to keep working. Nursing is something that is in my DNA. I can't not do it!

The Nurse says she's always lived life with a positive attitude, and perhaps that's what helped her keep a level head. She declared:

I always used to tell people at the hospital to go buy a lottery ticket if they were feeling down, explaining to them that it gives you some optimism that maybe in the morning you'll wake up and everything has changed, it's something to hold onto.

Keep building

Steve Thompson, a building contractor who specializes in window installations, had played the UK National Lottery for 25 years before finally hitting the big one in 2019. He admitted that he was so used to not winning that he didn't even check his ticket until three days after the drawing, while waiting to be picked up for work:

I am not sure I even looked at the first two lines; the third one just jumped out, and I could instantly tell they all matched. I started shaking a lot. I knew it was a really big win, but didn't know what to do.

Thompson's ticket was worth £105,100,701.90. He said he was so overwhelmed by the thought of the massive jackpot that he didn't know what to do:

I went out to my van, walked back in, thought about knocking on a neighbour's door, and went back to the van. I started shaking a lot. I knew it was a really big win, but I didn't know what to do. I think I was on the verge of having a heart attack.

However, once he had time to process his win, he realized that he wasn't ready to just walk away from everything he had spent so many years building:

I am not the type just to sit still. My business partner knows that if he needs a hand, I'll be there. I do not want to change; we are just financially better off. I am not going to flutter it away; at the end of the day, I am still Steve.

True to his word, the day after winning, he went back to work and spent the day painting a client's ceiling. He added that he planned to finish out all of his existing contracts and said that he would still help out his business partner when he had a big job to take on.

Thomson said that he didn't have any big plans for the money just yet. His only purchases immediately after winning were a new shirt and a haircut he needed for the press conference where he collected his prize.

Other than that, he says his family's biggest financial plan is to avoid cooking their own Christmas dinner this year:

I am not cooking. Mum is not cooking. Lenka (his wife) is not cooking. It's so much money, I still can't get my head around it.

In the years since they won, the couple has made a few purchases, including a luxurious new home and new cars. Rather than filling their garage with Ferraris and Rolls-Royces, Thomson purchased a secondhand van for himself, and his wife now drives a Volvo SUV.

Trailer park millionaire

Bobby Stuart believes in keeping things simple, even now that he's one million dollars richer. "Ain't nothing really different," he told a reporter from the comfort of the living room of the trailer he lives in. "I do the same thing over and over."

Life changed, and it didn't for the Main resident after he won two lottery prizes, including a $1,000,000 jackpot from one instant win card and a $100,000 prize from a second scratch off game just four months later.

Despite his fortune, Stuart still lives in the trailer he's called home for several years, still clocks in for an 11-hour shift at Hissong Ready-Mix & Aggregates, and still eats his dinner every night in a small local diner.

The one indulgence he allowed himself was buying new windows for his trailer, but even then, he said he negotiated a good price.

That's not all to say that Stuart is a selfish miser who refuses ever to spend a penny. He gave each of his three children a portion of his prize money and says they'll receive the rest of it after he passes away.

As the son of a farmer, Stuart says he was brought up to value hard work and that he never saw much need for extravagances like fancy cars. The biggest indulgence he allows himself is attending a NASCAR race once a year in Loudon, New Hampshire.

His brother even offered to tear down his old trailer and build him a new one on the same plot of land, but Stuart turned him down.

Stuart's son Greg says that his dad's frugality is no surprise to him:

Everybody I talk to says, 'Why doesn't he buy a new house?' I say, 'He doesn't want one.'

Stuart is so set in his ways that he keeps buying scratch-off tickets even though he doesn't know what he'd spend the money on if he did win again.