$2.4 million jackpot winner to help churches
Weston woman claims jackpot after playing slot machines at Tri-State

Charleston Daily Mail
by Ashley B. Craig
July 22, 2009

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- The Weston woman who hit a slot-machine jackpot for $2.4 million at Tri-State Racetrack and Gaming Center intends to use part of her winnings to help financially struggling country churches. Shonda Hicks, a 46-year-old medical assistant, said she has no immediate plans to buy anything special for herself.

Saturday, July 11, was Hicks' lucky day.

On the day before, she and her boyfriend, Mike Starett, had made 90-minute trek down Interstate 79 to the Kanawha Valley to look for a new car. On the following Monday morning, she was back at work in a Weston doctor's office.

"Everyone was asking me what I was doing there and they were all so excited," Hicks said. "I just want to be humble, be wise and stay Shonda Hicks."

The couple's search for a car proved to be fruitless, so they decided to get a hotel room and try the next day. First, they went to a department store to get clothes as they had come to Charleston with only the clothes on their backs, Hicks said. They didn't find a suitable vehicle on the second day of their quest, and were headed back to Charleston on Interstate 64 when Hicks saw the exit sign for the casino. She asked Starett, a 58-year-old contractor, if he wanted to go, and he said no. Hicks persisted, and Starett gave in.

They played the slots at the casino for nearly two hours. They might have left sooner had it not been for a downpour outside. Finally, about 7 p.m., they were on their way out the door when Hicks stopped.

She said she had an urge to try her luck just one more time. The Cashola progressive jackpot machines beckoned.

"I asked him which one he thought looked lucky and he told me none of them," Hicks said.

The Cashola game is a combined effort involving gambling facilities in West Virginia, Delaware and Rhode Island. The size of the jackpot goes up slightly for every game played.

Hicks said she saw a machine that she thought looked a little luckier than the others and fed a $20 bill into it, which enabled her to play for nearly 10 minutes before striking it rich.

"The machine said you may have won," Hicks said. "When I saw those little coins lined up I knew what that meant."

Hicks stared at the machine in disbelief.

Other excited customers and casino officials soon surrounded Hicks and Starett.

"I asked if it was a joke and they said, 'No sir, it's not a joke,' " Starett said.

Starett said he'd half expected cameras to appear from a prank TV show like Candid Camera or Punk'd.

"Aren't you glad we put that $20 in?" Hicks asked Starett.

After it was confirmed that Hicks had indeed won the $2,416,574 jackpot, she was swept away in a whirlwind of excitement and attention. Casino patrons congratulated her. Local television crews interviewed her. Hicks tried to get in touch with her family and friends to share the news but couldn't reach anyone, she said.

After about an hour she got through to her 26-year-old son Brian Hefner, who had tried to discourage her from playing slot machines. Hicks said she plays every once in a while and had no intention of going to the casino while she was in the Kanawha Valley on her car hunt.

"He couldn't believe it," Hicks said. "When I called him, he said, 'You're kidding me,' then started laughing."

The couple spent another night in Charleston free of charge, after a mountain of paperwork that needed to be read and filled out kept them at the casino late into the night.

Hicks said she isn't sure how much of the prize will be consumed by taxes. She also hasn't decided whether to take a lump sum or an annuity. She has decided what she'd like to do with her money.

"Be wise and pay off bills," she said. "That's a no brainer."

"We'll use it wisely," Starett said. "We'll still be the same people we've always been."

Hicks, who coaches girls ages 10 to 12 in youth league basketball, said she wants to give money to small struggling country churches. She doesn't have any major purchases in mind.

Hicks' win was the biggest of the Ca jackpots won so far this year. Tri-State is no stranger to the game's big winners. In February, a woman won $1.5 million playing the slots and in December another woman walked away with $1.3 million. The game's second biggest winner to date claimed his prize at the Nitro casino in October 2008 when he won $3.4 million.

"We're just ever so grateful and we have been truly blessed," Hicks said.