With all our thoughts on lucky chances in light of the Powerball winnings, EverythingLubbock.com visited with the family of the first Texas Lottery winner in Lubbock to see what it really takes to win big in the Hub City.
Emmett J. Neal Jr. was 39 and living in Lubbock when one day after work in May, he decided to drop by the EZ-Mart on 50th and Chicago.
His wife, Mallory Neal, described the event as it had been told to her:
“He worked at the Red Lobster and he was real tired and all he wanted to do was to go home from work, and he thought ‘Well, do I go get the ticket or not?’ He almost didn’t go, but at the last minute he decided to get a ticket at EZ-Mart and found out that night he was a millionaire,” Mrs. Neal said with a grin.
Texas Lotto lists of winners confirm that Neal was in fact the first Texas Lotto winner from Lubbock.
After that win, Mr. Neal was able to retire from his job as a chef at Red Lobster and to pay for his father’s retirement as well. A year later, he met the soon-to-be Mrs. Neal and got married in Lubbock.
“I met him the year after the lottery. It just clicked between us, it was meant to be,” Mrs. Neal said. “We had eleven wonderful years together.”
She explained that Mr. Neal passed away in 2005 on Christmas day as the result of some accelerating health problems. He was 52 years old.
But Mrs. Neal said, in those eleven years together, they were able to enjoy each other and the security provided by those lottery winnings.
“We did a lot of traveling, we bought a vacation home in Oklahoma on Lake Tenkiller and we bought a ranch in Spur, ” Mrs. Neal said.
There were a few big perks to being a lottery winner. Because Texas Lottery had only been around for a year at that time, the lottery hosted “millionaire reunions” and invited back all of their winners. The Neals attended several, which Mrs. Neal described as “great fun.” At one such event the millionaire winners were filmed by Oprah Winfrey’s crew for a segment on her show saying in unison “Hey Oprah, we’re millionaire’s too!,” Mrs. Neal recalled.
The Texas Lottery even came out to the Neal’s ranch in Spur on one occasion, bringing in a whole production crew to film a commercial.
Mrs. Neal explained that she and her husband didn’t opt for an extravagant life or buy any “fancy cars.” They actually chose to invest a significant portion of their winnings.
Mrs. Neal has a few things she’d recommend to others who win big in future lotteries.
“The first thing is sign the back of the ticket, and then get an attorney, a CPA , and a financial advisor,” she said. The Neal’s planning has allowed their fortune to last, Mrs. Neal said that she and her heirs will be able to live comfortably.
Mrs. Neal added that they had to pay back nearly half of the winnings in taxes.
She still lives simply in Lubbock, close to their family. And she’s happy with a life that’s not flashy.
“I don’t need the fancy stuff. To have a roof over my head, to have a car to get from point A to point B and to not have to worry about bills, for me, that is rich,” Mrs. Neal said.
What’s the best thing about being a multi-millionaire?
“To be able to wake up every morning and know you don’t have to worry about bills,” Mrs. Neal said.
The worst?
“I guess probably the worst part is if someone asks you for money, it’s hard to say no. But there are times when you need to say no,” she said.
Mrs. Neal recalls that even with all their winnings, she and her husband would still go out and buy lottery tickets for fun.
“We always played the lottery,” she said,”More than we probably should have. We never won another big lottery, we won smaller scratch-offs, but that was never more than $5000,” she said.
She explained that despite Mr. Neal’s winnings, he always remained grounded. The man who was a Red Lobster chef once upon a time never wanted a fancy life, he kept playing the lottery because he loved the game.
“Oh yes, he would definitely play the Powerball [if he were alive today], he would probably buy 100 tickets!,” laughed Mrs. Neal.
