Life Changes For Slots Winner After $416k Payout

When Choo Hong Eng won the $416,742 slots jackpot at the Marina Bay Sands casino in Singapore last October, the 58 year old commented at the time:
“I don’t think anything has changed or will change. I guess maybe it’s a gift for the charity I’ve been doing, to do more charity.”
A few month later and the charitable “Jackpot Aunty” may have been a touch naive in her prediction as she now claims to have lost half a stone in weight due to the stress caused by dealing with an endless barrage of calls from friends and charities looking for a donation.
At the time of her winning, the vegetarian food stall hawker said she would give half her money away to good causes, automatically pledging support for the Ren Ci Hospital, the National Kidney Foundation and the Kwong Wai Shiu Hospital. Since then she has helped out 26 different charities to the tune of $280,000, as well as carrying on with her own charitable deeds, such as cooking meals for residents in welfare homes, but in spite of the people she has helped, having to turn down others has piled a great deal of stress on Choo Hong Eng, who says she has now lost many friends, some dating back over 30 years.
Commenting on the unfortunate situation, she said: “But what can I do? I can’t help so many people.”
Nevertheless, Mdm Choo Hong Eng has said she appreciates those real friends who have stood by her without resenting her win or looking for handouts. She also said that she hasn’t spent any of the money on herself or her two daughters aged 19 and 17, whom she adopted from their impoverished mother when they were young. In addition, she says she still owns the same Volkswagen delivery van and lives in the same flat as before her jackpot payout last year.