Story originally printed in the La Crosse Tribune or online at www.lacrossetribune.com
Published - Friday, September 19, 2008
La Crosse woman wins $600K jackpot at casino
BLACK RIVER FALLS — Jane Schwaegerl always thought winning an almost $600,000 jackpot would come with bells, whistles and plenty of fanfare.
So when the progressive slot machine at a Black River Falls casino remained silent while showing she’d hit a $595,000 jackpot Wednesday, she figured something was wrong.
“I thought the machine was broken,” Schwaegerl said Thursday.
There was no mistake: The La Crosse nurse had captured the jackpot on a machine that pays out based on bets from casinos in 14 states.
Schwaegerl still is trying to come to grips with her sudden stroke of good fortune and is wrestling with why it happened the way it did. But she is certain there was a spirit involved.
Monday, Schwaegerl and a friend from Florida followed the same pre-casino ritual the friend’s late father and brother followed by having breakfast at the same truck stop. That ritual didn’t pay off, as Schwaegerl left without winning much.
But two days later, Schwaegerl was enjoying her day off work when a little voice told her to go back to the casino.
After winning a small amount at the regular quarter slot machines, Schwaegerl decided to try her luck on the more expensive machines.
“The first wheel came up and then the second wheel came up. I thought I’d never seen two on the pay line before and thought, ‘Please, give me something to go with it so I can win something,’” Schwaegerl said of the winning play. “When the third one fell down, I thought, ‘Holy cow, I just won.’”
Schwaegerl said she doesn’t expect her life to change much from the jackpot winning, but said it may enable her to take early retirement when the time comes. She also plans to use the money to spoil her six grandchildren.
She still has to decide whether to take the prize in a lump sum or 25 annual installments.
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