Hot Lotto winner credits winning to doll
Carved figure made by members of Hopi Tribe said to grant good luck.
Hot Lotto winner in Henryetta credits winning to doll

By Hailey R. Branson

Published: July 17, 2008

The 49-year-old Henryetta man recently claimed the winning Hot Lotto ticket. After taxes, he will receive $923,000 Tuesday.

Three days before buying the ticket, Nunn brought home a Kachina doll — a carved figure made by members of the Hopi Tribe — that had been given to his mother. The woman who sold it to his mother, now deceased, said she would have good luck as long as she had it.

"I am superstitious,” he said. "I do attribute (the lottery win) to that.”

Nunn, a disabled Army National Guardsman, brought the Kachina doll home from his father's house after he had undergone two surgeries.

Nunn had his appendix removed June 3 and had to have a second surgery June 7 after the staples in his side came out and part of his large intestine protruded through the incision.

Nunn, who has intestinal complications caused by ulcerative colitis, was ill for weeks.

He usually buys them at the same Henryetta store, but he could not get them when he tried earlier this month.

So, he went to a new store, First Street Shell at 101 W Main.

He returned a day later to buy cigarettes, unaware that he had the ticket announced as the winner in a July 2 drawing.

Nunn's winning ticket was worth $2.1 million, but his prize before taxes will be $1.3 million since he took the cash lump sum option over the annuity option. A mandatory 29 percent reduction for state and local taxes will reduce his take-home prize to $923,000.

The store where he bought the ticket was given a $5,000 check from the Oklahoma Lottery Commission as part of the retailer bonus program, according to Rebecca Fast, a lottery spokeswoman.

"The people at the store were real excited,” Nunn said. "I'm calm. I don't get excited about a lot of things. It took awhile to set in, a couple of days.”

He wants to stay near Henryetta, where he moved in 1993 after health problems ended his National Guard duty.

Nunn also wants a swimming pool, which will help him with leg exercises. He has problems walking due to his health problems.

Nunn also wants to buy a Rolls-Royce or a Bentley, which he said has been a dream in case he ever won the lottery.

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