Lotto win forestalls foreclosure

The Gazette

Originally published 12:30 a.m., November 27, 2007
Updated 11:50 a.m., November 27, 2007

Aguda bought ticket at Safeway.

As the Bible says: "Whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive."

Gloria Aguda, of Fountain, said she prayed to God for help, facing foreclosure and mounting bills. She won the jackpot in the Nov. 21 Lotto drawing, worth approximately $9 million. "My heart was pounding too bad," Aguda was quoted in a Colorado Lottery news release Monday.

Aguda's was the only ticket to match all six numbers - 9, 15, 23, 24, 35, 41. The Colorado Lottery said it was purchased at the Safeway at 6925 Mesa Ridge Parkway in Fountain.

Since Aguda was laid off two years ago, she has been working only one day a week at the commissary at Fort Carson while studying to become a medical assistant. The mother of two grown sons said she was running into financial difficulty.

"My kids have worked so hard to save the house," said Aguda, who plans to pay off the mortgage on her house, other bills and her sons' college loans with the $4.5 million lump-sum payout. After taxes, she'll have about $3.2 million.

Aguda, who moved to the U.S. as a teenager, said she'll also use the money to help her brother who lives in her native Philippines and travel to Honolulu for a surprise trip to visit family.

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