Lucky number 52 has special significance for lottery player who won $52,000 a year for life

By Kate Northrop

GRANTS PASS, Ore. — An Oregon woman is feeling the luck after playing the Win for Life draw game for the first time and winning the game's top prize of $1,000 a week for life.

Ruth Salvatore, 73, of Grants Pass, is happy she gave the Win for Life draw game a go. Thanks to wanting to try something new, she's walking away from her first drawing in the game a jackpot winner.

Salvatore purchased five tickets for the Mon., June 5 Win for Life drawing. After the drawing took place, she got down to checking her tickets. At first, she was thrilled to have just won $2 on one of her tickets.

Her fifth and final ticket she scanned came up as the jackpot winner.

She got up from her spot and ran into the living room to shower her husband, Ed, and her sister with the news.

"Look at that," the winner had exclaimed, pointing to her phone. "Look at that!"

Having won the game's top prize of $1,000 a week for life, Salvatore will be raking in $52,000 a year.

Coincidentally, the couple is celebrating their 52nd wedding anniversary later this month, making the happy occasion even sweeter.

Salvatore purchased her Win for Life tickets at the Fred Meyer grocery store on Grants Pass Parkway in Grants Pass. With the winnings, the couple is planning to remodel their home and take a trip to Cancun.

The winning numbers in the Win for Life drawing on Mon., June 5 were 11, 14, 27, and 67. The odds of matching all four numbers in the Win for Life set to hit the jackpot are 1 in 1,353,275.

(Click to display full-size in gallery)Ruth Salvatore, 73, of Grants Pass, Oregon, is walking away from her first drawing in the Win for Life game a jackpot winner.