HUDSON, Fla. — Thursday is a big day for Betty Pugsley. She's getting ready to go on her annual birthday trip from Hudson to the Beau Rivage Resort & Casino in Biloxi, Miss., for a little gambling and a lot of good times.

But she said she never wins big at the casinos. 

“Even when I buy lottery tickets —I buy those every so often," Pugsley said. "I'm lucky if I get $5. I'm not lucky, I mean money that way. But I'm lucky at what counts. Good health is more important to me.”

That good health will be with her Saturday when she turns 100.

“I’ve been very fortunate — I’ve not been sick, I’ve never really had a problem," she said. "I don’t have any pains, except until today.

When she showed up at the St. Petersburg Clearwater International Airport Thursday morning for her flight, she found out that she was being celebrated for another milestone.

“We also want to recognize her as the Beau Rivage does as the one millionth passenger," said airport director Tom Jewsbury. “Is that incredible?”

Now at age 100, she didn't have any children, grandchildren or even great-grandchildren at her big send-off. That's because Betty was born an only child in 1922 and after nearly 50 years of marriage, she and her late husband never had children.

But what she does have are good friends — one in particular, who made their long-time friendship even more special back in 2011.

“I went on the internet, I got an adoption paper," said Anne Millians-Roche. "I took Betty and all her friends to dinner, and said you're now my adopted mother."

And that's how Pugsley said she won the jackpot in life. 

“I win big just having the wonderful friends that I have," she said. “That right there.”