Grandmother credits hairdressser for $7M lottery jackpot
SELDEN, N.Y. -- Marilyn Looney might have been a little frustrated at her hairdresser running late for her weekly appointment, but this time she's probably thankful for her tardiness.
It turns out it morphed into an opportunity for the Long Island, N.Y., grandmother to become a lottery millionaire.
"Every week she comes in, she gets her hair done, and then goes and scratches tickets," said Looney's hairdresser, Treesha Powery about the July 3 appointment. "And I was running late, so I said, 'Marilyn, go scratch first today.' "
So Looney, 82, goes into the Mili Cards and Smoke Shop in Selden to purchase a scratch-off lottery ticket. But it was no ordinary ticket.
"He read it and he came jumping over, and said, 'My God, lady, you're a millionaire,'" Looney told CBS New York. "You've just won $7 million."
After calling her daughter and sharing the good news, Looney went back into the hairdresser's to tell the now-arrived Powery.
"I came in here like a raving maniac: 'Treesha! I won $7 million!'" she said. "She didn't believe me."
Looney said she plans to share her winnings with her family, and seek better medical care for herself as she battles cancer and for her husband, who is in a nursing home.
Outside of planning a trip to Disney World, she says she wants to "make sure that my daughter and her family are taken care of and they don't have to worry about anything," Looney said. "I'm 82, I don't need anything. I just want to see them happy and taken care of."