Saugus woman working an extra shift at Kowloon wins big with gifted Keno ticket

SAUGUS – An act of kindness is paying off in a big way after an employee at the Keno counter found herself on the winning side of the ticket. It was a Friday night and 79-year-old Shirley Rose was not supposed to be working. 

The Saugus woman is retired and works a couple of days a week at the Kowloon restaurant Keno counter but came in an extra day to help a co-worker cover a shift. 

Rose said a man walked in and asked her to give him his favorite numbers. She did, and the man asked for two more. 

Rose gave him two birth dates that were important to her. They needed one more number and that was when the man asked for Rose’s age. She hesitated before confessing her age of 79. 

The numbers 4, 6, 17, 18, and 79 were placed on two tickets: one for the man and one for Rose. 

When ran through the system, they won big. The $10 tickets yielded a prize of $2,000 apiece. 

An unexpected ‘tip’ for Rose who said she was overwhelmed by the entire experience. 

“Seemed to me by the look on his face, when he talked to me, that he was happier for me than he was for himself,” said Rose. 

During all of this, Rose said she didn’t know the man’s name. She later found out his name was Eddie. It happened to be her son and his father’s name too. 

Turned out, that Eddie had more luck than just his Keno win that Friday. His grandson had been born just hours before. 

There is a lesson here, Rose said, about kindness and paying it forward. One she hopes will spread. 

“We need more of these stories told because with all the bad news on TV you sometimes don’t know all the good things happening out there.”