Thursday, October 1, 2026
As a lottery winner, Patricia Eisel celebrated her day in the spotlight with friends and family at the Saloon on Thursday night, as a black stretch limousine idled outside, waiting to chauffer her to the airport. Eisel was catching a flight to Ireland to visit her “ma,” who was unaware of the great news her daughter was about to surprise her with.
Eisel has worked at the popular West End bar as a waitress and bartender for 10 years and refers to her fellow workers and customers as “family.” And while the 40-year-old mother of three is still in a state of disbelief, Eisel remains grounded and said she’d like to continue to work at the Saloon, even though she just received the largest tip of her life: She hit all six numbers in the $21.5 million Lotto jackpot on Jan. 5.
“All of my customers are my family, my boss is my family,” said Eisel, who has not told many people about her win, including her mother. “I’m hoping to go back [to work] for a little bit. I’m going to be a full-time mom but I don’t want my customers to think that I left because I’ve done this. I just want to be there because they are family. They embraced me when I was there 10 years ago. I’m still going to be me.”
Eisel was one of eight players who won a total of $32.5 million in the Jan. 5 Lotto drawing, and, just a few hours before she gathered with her friends at the Saloon, she stood next to New York Lottery’s Yolanda Vega at the New York State Lottery’s Customer Service Center in Garden City, where she toted her oversized check for the cameras and fielded questions from reporters.
Eisel decided to take her winnings as a one-time lump sum payment of $11.9 million, which comes out to $7.9 million after taxes.
Eisel has lived in Long Beach for nearly 10 years and in 1995 moved from Ireland to New York. As a struggling single mother trying to make ends meet, Eisel called her winning ticket a “godsend.” Eisel said that the first thing she plans to do is visit her mom in Ireland to surprise her with the good news, and then plans to buy a new home and a dog for her three boys, who attend elementary school.
“Something very comfortable with a big fenced in yard that the boys can run around in,” she said.
