Features

Half Moon Bay man claims his share of $193 million lottery

By Colleen Valles The Associated Press
Wednesday February 20, 2002

SAN FRANCISCO — Andy Kampe was six when his family fled the communists in Latvia, fearing for their lives. He still remembers seeing the Statue of Liberty when they arrived in America. 

Now, 51 years later, the Half Moon Bay business owner is continuing to build his American Dream, and he has California Lottery millions to help him. 

The newest winner, who owns Kampe Construction, received an oversized check Tuesday for the $64.3 million he’ll get before taxes over the next 26 years. Kampe elected to take the money in annual payments, and the first real check, for $1.6 million, should arrive in two to six weeks. 

Kampe held one of three winning tickets for Saturday’s record $193 million jackpot. He grew curious after hearing on the radio Sunday that there was a winner in his small coastal town. 

Kampe checked his 20 “Quick Pick” tickets against the numbers in Sunday’s paper and found he had a winner. 

The two other winning tickets were sold in Southern California, at two 7-Eleven stores in Orange and Montebello. Those winners have yet to come forward. 

Kampe said Tuesday that he and his family — his wife Diane quit her job as a nurse at Coastside Medical Clinic — would “go hide” for about a month to figure out what to do with the money. He has two daughters, Amanda Valerino, 27, who lives in Nevada, and Ana Kampe, 26, who lives in Oregon. 

Kampe said he’s planning to fire himself from his job, travel and possibly make some big purchases. 

“I’ve gone to Europe on business, but I’ve never had a chance to go with my family,” he said. “I’ll probably get myself a pretty hot car. I’ve got a truck now.” 

He’d also like to give to disabled and paralyzed veterans organizations. Kampe said his brother served in Vietnam and a daughter, Valerino, is a U.S. Army veteran. 

Kampe said he plans to visit relatives in Latvia. His relatives in the United States include his brother, sister and mother. They fled to this country after his grandfather, who was a rich man in Latvia, was arrested and shot in the communist takeover of the country. 

Kampe talked to members of the press Tuesday in San Francisco with Valerino. The bashful winner was modest about his luck, but Valerino jumped in to talk up her dad. 

“He did deserve it. He’s the smartest man I know. I don’t know what I’d do without my dad,” she said. “He should be the president.” 

Kampe grew up in Michigan and graduated from Cal Tech in 1966. He moved to Half Moon Bay in 1970 and recently celebrated his 30th wedding anniversary with his wife. 

Kampe bought the ticket at an Alberston’s store, and he said he usually buys $5 to $10 in tickets when the jackpot grows to around $40 million. 

The $193 million jackpot created a buying frenzy as the deadline approached prior to Saturday night’s drawing. Hopeful millionaires snapped up a record $6 million worth of tickets per hour. 

The jackpot was the largest single-state prize ever hit. It was the fifth-largest including multistate games, the California Lottery said. The biggest lottery payout in U.S. history was $363 million in May 2000 for the multistate Powerball game. California’s previous record jackpot was $141 million on June 23, 2001, won by Al Castellano of San Jose.