91视频

When Michael Allen of Yachats and two of his buddies won big bucks in the Oregon Lottery, they spent most of it on pizza.

In late 2011, Allen, Dave Miller and Dave Mellgren were already converting a former Chevron station into a pizza restaurant when the three of them went in on a lottery ticket at the Newport Steak & Seafood restaurant. It turned out to be worth $1 million.

Until then, they were planning on pursuing a $40,000 bank loan to renovate the gas station, on U.S. Route 101, slightly north of Yachats. The lottery result suddenly led them to change 鈥� and expand 鈥� their plans for Outta Gas Pizza.

鈥淎fter the feds and the state took their share, we goofed off with some of the money and put the rest into our pizza restaurant,鈥� Allen said. 鈥淲e had only been doing the remodel for a month and a half. We had much more modest goals. Now it鈥檚 not just a pizza parlor. Now it has a sports bar, pool tables, shuffleboard, theater-style TV screen and a covered patio.鈥�

In fact, Allen said, it has become something of a community center.

鈥淚t鈥檚 a place where the entire community of Yachats can some together,鈥� he said. 鈥淓veryone in town is tremendously positive about a new place to come and hang out.鈥�

Before Allen and his partners bought the building, it was a gas station and towing company owned by the late Rick Boston. The trio opened a small, take-out pizza business on the spot in 2009 before deciding to renovate and open the 200-square-foot gas station side of the building. The project expanded to 2,600 square feet with the influx of lottery money.

鈥淚t took us eight months to rebuild the gas station,鈥� Allen said. 鈥淲e gutted the whole building, put in an all-new electrical system and radiant floor heat.鈥�

Chuck Baumann, the public affairs manager of the Oregon Lottery Commission, said he loves to hear stories about people putting their winnings back into the local community.

鈥淕enerally when people get their winnings, we don鈥檛 hear from them,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hey make themselves scarce. They鈥檙e afraid of all sorts of long-lost relatives and everyone else knocking down their doors. They usually like to get their prize and sail off into the sunset.鈥�

Some of them find a world full of sudden and unexpected wealth is flatter than, well, a pizza. They sail right off the edge, Baumann said.

鈥淥ne day, you鈥檙e living paycheck and paycheck and, all of a sudden, you鈥檝e got $20 million,鈥� he said. 鈥淪ome people don鈥檛 know how to handle it. One of the pieces of advice we always give is to find yourself a financial adviser.鈥�

Allen and his partners obviously don鈥檛 need such advice, Baumann said. They shine as an example of how to respond to sudden wealth wisely 鈥� by investing in a way that helps the entire community.

Greg Scott, president of the Yachats City Council, said city officials are excited about the new restaurant.

Yachats needs a local meeting place, Scott said.

鈥淚t鈥檚 filling a niche that we lost when a similar restaurant went out of business,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e pretty happy to see what the Outta Gas folks are doing. As far as the city is concerned, this is a real win. We have lottery money funding a business and creating real economic value. They鈥檝e created jobs and are really contributing to the city.鈥�

Locals really enjoy the place, he added.

鈥淚t seems to be a very sports bar kind of them,鈥� Scott said. 鈥淭hey have a lot of games people like to play when they鈥檙e tipping back a brew and relaxing. I鈥檓 very optimistic. Things are really starting to pop down here.鈥�

Outta Gas Pizza has been open less than a month.

鈥淟ooking back, we were naive to think we could open the kind of place we wanted with the amount of money we鈥檇 hoped to get in a loan,鈥� Allen said.

Not all of the lottery winnings went into the restaurant, he admitted. He, Miller and Mellgren each bought a used car. That鈥檚 what passes for conspicuous consumption on the Oregon Coast, Allen said.

鈥淵achats is like the last frontier of not having to deal with the modern world,鈥� he said. 鈥淵ou have to work hard to make it here.鈥�