Money, Like Magic!

Money, like magic!

Ann Arbor woman enjoys paying off quirky winners of lottery.

By JAN MACAFFEE

NEWS SPECIAL WRITER

Kerry McNulty hands over millions of dollars for a living. It's not the only thing she does in her public relations job at the Michigan Bureau of State Lottery in Lansing, but it is certainly one of the most memorable.

McNulty, who commutes from Ann Arbor daily, must seem like some kind of fairy godmother to the lucky recipients. Pretty and friendly, she is the one who actually hands over the first check received by lottery winners, perhaps as much as $1.4 million at once. She is the person they will always remember.

Most of us can only guess at the sense of disbelief and wonder that someone must feel when they win the lottery. Holding a piece of paper and realizing that the random sequence of numbers has suddenly become magical could rattle the coolest customer.

So what do you do next, after checking and checking again that it is really true, after you've called your family - and checked again?

After the yelling and whooping have died down, the first item on the agenda is to contact the lottery office in Lansing. When they hear "I've won the lottery!" they know exactly what to do. Everything slips easily into gear and the process of ticket verification begins.

"Besides the numbers that are broadcast, there are other numbers on the ticket that we need." McNulty explained. "This tells us where it was sold and when, plus other details."

Then there is the visit to Lansing, to which the winners must come from wherever they live. It is arguably the most cautious drive most people will ever make.

"Everyone mentions how careful they were," McNulty said. "you can imagine that for them the worst thing to have happen would be some kind of accident before they had a chance to spend the money!"

The lottery office is modern and pleasant. Most winners find the strength to push open the glass doors unassisted. If one has to sit and wait a moment, there is a curious array of prosaic magazines to read celebrating domestic life; Redbook, Ladies Home Journal and Family Circle.

Then one is ushered by a friendly receptionist into the claims room to the right. There's a form to fill in and a short wait but the magazines are markedly different - U.S. News and World Report, Forves and Time.

McNulty is summoned and the entourage (no one ever comes alone - significant others or a lawyer always come to share the moment) and everyone adjorns to what looks like a large corporate boardroom to await the presentation.

Cookies and pop are served and McNulty engages her guests in conversation for the 20 minutes or so that it takes for the check to be processed.

"I've started asking everyone where they put their ticket after they knew they had won," McNulty said. "There have been some amusing answers, as you can imagine."

"The members of a winning lottery club decided to spend the night before coming to Lansing all together in one house. They changed the ticket's hiding place three times during the evening, so nervous were they that no one place was good enough. It went from a picture frame, to a book, then behind a piece of electrical conduit.

"The best place I've heard so far is at the bottom of a box of cat food."

When the check arrives, it is given to McNulty who now gets down to the nitty gritty about nasty things like taxes. They take a hefty bite: 20 percent federal, 4.6 percent state, so if you won only $1 million, already you are no longer a millionaire. She talks to them about the need for good investment advice and how their payments will be spread over 20 years. Of course, there are forms to fill in; this is after all a bureaucratic enterprise.

"I protract the business a little," McNulty says with a smile. "I undo the paper clip from the check and continue to hold it a moment, making sure I have told them everything necessary. Because once you give them the check, they don't hear a thing you've said."

It is in the interest of the lottery to have the winners announce their name and again it is part of McNulty's job to gain permission for this release.

"It adds to the credibility of the whole procedure when the public knows there was in fact a winner and who it was," McNulty said. "And sometimes people enjoy their moment of fame. The attention is after all, quite brief. But there is no obligation to cooperate."

When McNulty started, the lottery had not had anyone release their name for almost two years. There is a Public Act 243 that stipulates that if someone wins over $10,000, they don't have to reveal their identity. McNulty's gentle encouragement has convinced several winners to "go public."

"this is part of the challenge," she said. "We can set up a press conference overnight and of course any stories that make it into the news only add to the general level of interest in playing the lottery."

"In any case, it's not an easy secret to keep. Usually winners are too excited to keep the news to themselves and it gets all over the neighborhood anyway, especially if the amount is large. Most people want to celebrate with friends and family,"

But some winners are so secretive and cautious that they don't even want to give their name and basic details to the lottery office when they call with the winning ticket. What are they scared of?

"Some don't even want their children to know," McNulty observed in wonderment. "They are worried that people will start asking for money, I guess, and they want total anonymity. Such people will bring a lawyer with them and not even speak themselves."

Follow-up surveys show that the first purchase of a ticket winner is usually a car, followed by an upgraded home, usually in the area where they now live. And it has also been noted that people's spending habits do not change. If they were conservative and cautious before they won the lottery, they will be after.

One couple in their 50s with college age children, took this to an extreme. Having won a prize of several million, it took the couple an incredible three weeks before they appeared in Lansing to get their first installment. McNulty asked them why they had waited, since they knew they had won immediately after the drawing. 

"We just weren't in any hurry," said the woman. "We had no immediately pressing need for the money. Our primary concern is getting our children educated. Maybe we will take a trip somewhere."

McNulty has had one light-hearted proposal of marriage. "One man asked me if I would like to become a millionairess very quickly. People are very nice and give me a quick hug as they leave, but it's definitely their day."

The only "down side" of the job: McNulty is legally barred from purchasing a ticket. Seeing about sic major winners a week has made her a true believer in this giddy game of slim chance. So what happens whenever she travels outside of Michigan?

"The first thing I do is buy a lottery ticket."

Photo Caption:

Kerry McNulty, director of public relations for Michigan's Bureau of State Lottery, has the entertaining job of delivering the first checks to lottery winners. The largest she has handed out was to a 20-year-old man who won the $29 million jackpot. His first installment, after taxes, was $1.5 million.

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BIG PAYOFFS

The largest price ever was $33.5 million shared by two players in September 1988.

There have been 5 winners of prizes over $1 million in Washtenaw County, two o who were from Ann Arbor.

The state lottery holds about $18 million dollars a year in unclaimed prizes.

Median annual income of average lottery player is just over $30,000.