$2M Lotto winner says he'll keep working

It's difficult for Amanda Richardson to stop smiling these days. She went from being a carhop at a local drive-in to being a millionaire less than a week ago, and she and her fiancé, Michael Magarian, still are letting the news soak in.

"We always play the Lotto," Michael said. "We've played the Wednesday and Saturday games for years. We play the Quick Picks and let the computer pick the numbers."

The winning ticket was almost a miss for Magarian.

"We were in the drive-through at On The Go," he said, "and we got what we needed and then realized we hadn't bought any tickets. It was only about 30 or 40 minutes till the drawing."

Magarian bought the couple's usual three tickets and went home. His cellphone is programmed to receive a text alert giving the winning numbers once the drawing takes place.

"It was probably about 9:30," he recalls, "when the text came across, so I was reading off the numbers and Amanda was checking them."

They checked and double-checked before they began to celebrate, and the next day, with a $2 million winning ticket, they drove to St. Louis to personally turn it in.

"They told us it would be seven to 10 days before it would show up in our account," Amanda said. "So, we're watching every day."

The couple, who will be married in September, decided to take the winning in one lump payment. By doing so, they forfeited a good piece of the pie, but after taxes, they still will walk away $710,000 richer than they were.

So, what big plans does the couple have with their newfound wealth? Hardly any at all, Magarian said. For starters, they plan to keep their modest home on Ray Street.

"My mother left me that house," he said. "We've got great neighbors, and we don't see any reason to move."

Magarian also sees no reason to quit his job with Multi Band as an installer of Direct TV.

Word of the couple's good fortune traveled quickly.

"I went into work the next day," Magarian said, "and my boss said he really wasn't expecting to see me again, but I'm going to keep working."

Amanda, on the other hand, didn't hesitate to quit her job as a car hop at the local Sonic Drive-In.

"I always wanted to be a police officer," she said. "Now, maybe I can do that."

"One thing we're going to do is pay off all our debt," Michael said. "And so we plan on just investing the rest and living off my paycheck."

First, they both say, they'll keep checking their bank account for the six-figure balance and allow more time for the realty of having nearly one million dollars at their disposal to sink in.