Before last weekend, Shana Kelley was your average student at Bunker Hill Community College. Now she's a millionaire.
The 21-year-old Somerville resident pushed a button on a "Wheel of Fortune" themed slot machine Sunday at Mohegan Sun and won $3.5 million. The game is a penny slot machine, but players can place bigger bets for bigger payouts.
"I asked the guy next to me if it said thousands or millions and he said 'Hon, that's millions,' " Kelley said yesterday by phone. "And I screamed. I had probably about 20 people around me, clapping and screaming."
Kelley had had success at the same machine at the Connecticut casino, winning $500. On Sunday, she put a total of $100 into the machine before winning. While Kelley has not yet received a check from the casino, she has enlisted a lawyer and financial planner to help. "I want to do the right thing and save it all and not blow it all," Kelley said.
She already has two big purchases in mind: a baby blue Cadillac Escalade and a house. "I want everything: big windows, a garage, a picket fence, everything," she said.
