If there’s one downside to winning an absolute fortune in the lottery it’s all those pesky friends and relatives demanding a slice of the winnings.
So when a Jamaican fellow by the name of “D Brown” won a staggering $US95 million ($A135 million) in his local Lotto draw he stumped up to the press/oversized cheque announcement dressed as none other than the Supreme Commander of the Imperial Forces (aka Darth Vader).
According to press reports, Mr Brown had been playing Lotto for the past 20 years and always with the same numbers. He admits to living the quiet life and so he donned the Darth Vader suit to protect his identity.
The Lotto brand is owned by a company called Supreme Ventures and its vice president of marketing, communication and sponsorship, Gail Abrahams, handed the mega cheque to Brown over the weekend.
On his win, Brown told the The Jamaica Gleaner: “I want to decide what is the best thing to do before spending anything. I need to decide what my goals are, but I know I want to own a bus.
“Life has always been very rough. I come from a poor family, sometimes I couldn’t attend school because my parents didn’t have it, but I told myself that God will help me one day so I can help my family,” he said.
Supreme Ventures’ assistant vice president Simone Clarke-Cooper added that the Darth Vader costume was probably a very good idea given the high rates of crime in the country.
“Unfortunately, Jamaica is not like other markets. In other markets, they don’t necessarily do it, but here I think they opt to do it to keep themselves safe. We are not going to tell them not to do that because their safety is of paramount importance to us as well,” Cooper explained.
“People have been coming with their own disguises. They usually don’t need our help, and they are usually very creative, perhaps beyond anything that we could think of or imagine, and it has been very effective over the years,” she added.
