Brin-Martin, who had just bought a replica "Star Wars" light saber for her children, won $1,427,870 at a Star Wars-themed slot machine.
Gabriele Brin-Martin near a Star Wars-themed slot machine at Mohegan Sun.Updates a story posted Tuesday at 6:09 p.m.
HOLYOKE – Gabriele Brin-Martin opened a box on her kitchen table Tuesday containing a replica "Star Wars" light saber she splurged on for her children, but then realized they were out of batteries.
Buying batteries and a lot of other things won't be a problem anymore for Brin-Martin.
The stars were aligned Monday as Brin-Martin, 47, won $1.4 million at a slot machine at Mohegan Sun casino in Connecticut.
So the light saber was not just a family gift, but a symbol of good fortune: Brin-Martin won the money by playing a Star Wars-themed machine on the third birthday of her youngest son, Luke, who shares a name with Luke Skywalker, a key figure in the Star Wars mythology.
"I still don't believe it. It hasn't sunk in yet. I didn't sleep all last night. That's a lot of money – a lot of money," Brin-Martin said in her West Holyoke home.
Luke, 3, was named for biblical reasons and not the Star Wars Luke, she said, though the light saber is a Luke Skywalker model. She bought it for $140 and it is similar to one the casino provided for her to pose with in a photo, she said.
The money will help in several key undreamed-of ways. Brin-Martin is on medical leave with back problems, so she might get that addressed, she said.
The prize will allow her to take a break from the chore of looking for steady work, said Brin-Martin, who said she has been working occasionally helping alcoholics at a detoxification center in Springfield. She also will hire a financial adviser, she said.
Her mother, who is 69, is suffering from terminal cancer in Bremen Town, Germany, Brin-Martin's birthplace, and some of the money will go toward helping that situation, she said.
She came to this area in 1984 upon marrying an American soldier to whom she no longer is married. She lived in Northampton, Holyoke and Westfield, and is back in Holyoke, she said.
She has four children: Rachel, 23, Erika, 14, Zachary, 10, and Luke, she said.
On Monday, with the kids at school, she headed to Mohegan, in Uncasville, in southeastern Connecticut.
"I took some mommy time, some me time, so I took some time off," she said.
She had been playing the same machine for a half-hour. She had won $350, so decided to stay put. It was 2:30 p.m. when the wheels clicked together into a surreal kind of symmetry and the machine lit up with the message: "Call attendant for verification."
"I knew I won something, but I didn't know what it was," Brin-Martin said.
A mock-up of a giant check, about the size of her son Luke, draped on a kitchen counter attested to the lucky strike.
Brin-Martin won $1,427,870 on a one-cent IGT Star Wars Wide Area Progressive machine, a press release from Mohegan Sun said Tuesday.
Mohegan Sun is owned by the Mohegan Tribe, and is one of the largest gaming destinations in the country.