Lotto winner may have bought meals for 180 in Florida

PLANT CITY, Fla., June 12 (UPI) -- The manager of a Florida restaurant said a woman who resembles an 84-year-old lottery winner, but denied being the woman, picked up the tabs for 180 diners.

Stephanie Reaves, manager of the BuddyFreddy's eatery in Plant City, said a woman bearing a strong resemblance to $590 million Powerball winner Gloria MacKenzie, 84, of Zephyrhills ate at the restaurant Sunday with another woman and a younger man and returned a short time later to pick up the tabs for 180 other diners, the Tampa Bay Times reported Wednesday.

"Everybody got up and applauded and started hugging her," Reaves said. "In my 35 years in the restaurant industry, I've never seen anything like it."

"It sure looked like her," the manager said. "She looked like the woman on TV."

However, the woman who paid the $2,600 tab and gave five servers $50 tips denied being the lottery winner.

"She said she wasn't the one who won, but she sure fit the description," Reaves said.