73-year-old was ‘thrilled’ with $2 Oregon lottery win – then she won much more

A 73-year-old woman in Oregon was more than satisfied with her $2 lottery win, lottery officials said.

She had no clue a much bigger sum was in her very near future.

Ruth Salvatore played the Win for Life draw game in Salem for the first time, according to a June 13 news release by the Oregon Lottery. Little did she know she’d win the jackpot and be awarded a $52,000 annual prize.

Salvatore bought five tickets and was already “thrilled” she had won something, officials said. The Grants Pass woman didn’t know she had won the jackpot until scanning her “last ticket on the Oregon Lottery app,” officials said.

“Look at that,” she said while seeing the news on her phone, according to the release. “Look at that.”

Salvatore and her husband, Ed, plan to use the money to make some renovations to their home and take a trip to Cancun, officials said.

Salem is about 50 miles southwest of Portland.

This story was originally published June 16, 2023 at 5:17 PM with the headline "73-year-old was ‘thrilled’ with $2 Oregon lottery win – then she won much more."