By Steve Wiegand
Published 2:15 am PDT
The plan was to take a friend to the casino for a birthday lunch, and,
OK, maybe participate in an electronic game or two of chance. As it
turned out, lunch had to wait.
"I started out on the dollar slots, and then went to the quarter 'Wheel
of Fortune Mega-Bucks' machines," said Sharon Gilbert. "I was thrilled
because it didn't take all my money right away. It played with
me."
Gilbert is a 63-year-old Vacaville resident who retired after a career
working for Albertson's in the grocery chain's food distribution
center.
Her gambling experience, prior to Aug. 14, consisted of four or five
trips a year to casinos, mostly in Reno or Lake Tahoe, and only
occasional success in terms of winning anything. Then came the trip to
Thunder Valley.
"I had been playing for about 30 minutes, (and was down to her last
$16)," she recalled, "when I hit - I lined up three 'wheels of
fortune.'
"All the bells and whistles started going off, so I figured I had won
maybe 4,000 quarters."
She was wrong.
As casino officials and other customers gathered around, someone
explained to Gilbert what she really had won: $335,000.
"I thought, 'No, I don't win things,' but they said, yes, if the
machine checks out, that's what you've won."
Checking the machine out required bringing a technician in from Reno,
which took about five hours.
"While I was waiting, I'd laugh a little, and then cry a little, and
then laugh a little more," she said.
After electing to take a lump-sum payment rather than installments,
Gilbert said she wound up with a check for $209,000. That translated
into a trip to Hawaii for her family, paying off a house, two
big-screen TVs and a fifth-wheel travel trailer.
"I have a different attitude when I go gamble now," Gilbert said. "It's
a lot more fun because what I put in there, if I don't come home with
any of it, it's theirs anyhow."
