Man, 92, Wins Lottery: $25,000 A Year For Life [View all]

Charles "Chuck" Svatos hit it big in the Iowa lottery — as Iowa Lottery says, "$25,000 a year for life!" But Svatos, 92, is taking his money in a lump sum, a decision that was presumably made easier because of his age.

By taking the cash option, Svatos received $390,000 — of which the federal government took nearly $100,000 and the state took nearly $20,000, still leaving him with a hefty $273,000, according to Iowa Lottery.

Svatos says he was in the middle of a lucky streak: He was so struck by two auspicious fortune cookie messages he recently received that he kept them in his wallet. One promised he would find "an unexpected treasure."

News of the prescient fortune cookie has made headlines, as lottery officials and media outlets reported Svatos saying the messages had predicted his big win. But Svatos was a bit more circumspect. Calling it a coincidence, he said, "It's hard to believe those fortune cookies; you can never believe them most of the time."

Read more: http://kanw.com/post/man-92-wins-lottery-25000-year-life