One Month After Losing Home to Fire, Woman Wins $150K in Lottery: 'I Knew God Would Bless Me'

By Amanda Thomason March 30, 2019 at 11:28am

Winning the lottery is something many people dream of. We all like to imagine what we’d do with more cash, but many people don’t know how to handle a large sum of money.

When Nandlall Mangal won $245.6 million by playing the lottery on Aug. 11, he immediately called a lawyer and kept his win a secret.

He also made a wise decision to not hold the monies in his personal name. With the lawyer’s help, he established the Sand & Sea Trust to receive the funds instead of Mangal personally.

What’s more, he decided to receive his winnings in a single lump sum.

That $245.6 million amount, which is normally doled out over a period of time, got pared down to a slightly more modest $99 million. But it’s still an amazing amount for a man who’d been a blue-collar worker mere weeks before.

“Right now I just plan to relax and see where it goes from here,” he said. “I’ve always wanted to go to Hawaii.”

In February, LeAndra Clay’s Arkansas home was destroyed by a fire and she started living in a shed.

She bought a lottery ticket in March, adding on the Power Play option, from the Helena Crossing Conoco, at 3053 Highway 49 in West Helena. Numbers 24, 25, 52, 50, 66 and 5 were selected. Although those were her numbers, she didn’t even know for sure right away because she had no electricity in her little shed.

“I first discovered that I was a winner Monday evening,” she said, according to KATV.

“Unfortunately, I couldn’t double check my ticket due to the fact that I don’t have electricity in the shed where I’ve been living since my house was destroyed by the fire.”

She won $50,000 but because she’d also added on the Power Play, it was multiplied by three.

Clay said she plans to use the money to tithe, buy a car and buy a new home.

This blessing really comes at a time when she can use it, and that hasn’t been lost on her.

“He’s an on-time God,” Clay said.

“I don’t have much family left and kept telling my friends that I have the faith of a mustard seed,” she added. “I knew that God would bless me soon.”

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