Man wins US lottery on day he became citizen

A man who emigrated from Kenya to the US found prosperity beyond his expectations on the day he became a US citizen.

Shortly after Moses Bittok took the oath of citizenship on Friday, he discovered he had a $1.89m winning ticket from the Iowa Lottery’s Hot Lotto game.

“It’s almost like you adopted a country and then they netted you $1.8 million,” Bittok said yesterday as he cashed in his ticket. “It doesn’t happen anywhere – I guess only in America.”

Bittok said he took the citizenship oath at the federal building in Des Moines on Friday, then went shopping with his family. They stopped at a filling station to check his lottery ticket from the September 21 drawing.

“For some reason, I’m calm,” he said. His wife, Leonida, screamed.

Bittok, 40, an officer at the Iowa Correctional Institute for Women in Mitchellville, said he doesn’t know exactly what he will do with his winnings, but a college fund for the couple’s four-year-old daughter, Mindy, is top priority.