ROY -- Linda Drake had 1.3 million new reasons to be thankful on Thanksgiving.
Make that 1,366,362.42.That's the dollar jackpot the Roy woman scored playing the progressive slots last Sunday in the Silver Smith Casino at Wendover, Nev.
The money will be paid out like an annuity, she said, in $68,000 installments over 20 years.
"It was a nice Thanksgiving," she said Friday. "I'm still trying to come down to earth."
The news spread quickly. When she returned to her job Wednesday as a manager in the Ogden IRS Center accounting department, Drake found a throng of cheering fellow workers and a red paper carpet leading up to the door of her office.
"The carpet said, 'Welcome back to the real world,' and they put phony money all over the office along with balloons and streamers," she said. "People have really been nice."
And yes, the Roy woman does plan to pay taxes, both state and federal, on her winnings
It took awhile for Drake to realize she had hit a gazillion-to-one shot.
Playing two quarter slots simultaneously, she was trying to collect her winnings from one machine to feed the one she was playing, which also happened to be the slot that paid off.
When the second machine suddenly stopped in mid-payout, Drake asked another player what was happening. He told the Roy woman it looked like she had won the progressive pot and that it looked like about $1,366.
"The most I've ever won before is $600," said Drake, who frequently goes to Wendover with her husband to get away from the grind of life. "I was excited when I thought I had won $1,300."
When a casino employee finally informed her that, no, she had really won $1.3 million "my knees became rubber. I still can't fathom it."
Drake and her husband had to stay overnight as the casino's guests until a gaming specialist checked the slot machine and verify the win.
Now the Drakes, who have heard the nightmare stories about people who suddenly became rich with casino or lottery winnings, are making plans on how to use the money wisely.
"I'm not a really flamboyant person and I've never had a lot of money," she said. "I would worry that I would lose the money if I got it all at once.
"So I think I'm going to save some money by paying off some bills, including my credit cards from last Christmas," Drake added.
When she and her husband move from their home in Roy, it will be to a smaller place rather than one of those swanky east bench mansions. "I'm not a big house person," she said.
Just three years away from retirement, Drake said a $68,000 annual paycheck for the next 20 years will ensure a comfortable retirement for her and her husband.
And fortunately, she has not been plagued with a deluge of telephone calls from cranks or people asking for charity.
"But I have had a lot of people," Drake admitted, "who want to help me invest it."