RUSSELL SPRINGS, Ky. — Winner winner! A Kentucky man scratched off a lottery ticket earlier this month and won $75,000!
Leslie Berryman told lottery officials he stopped at Five Star, on 40 SK Lane in Russell Springs, Kentucky, where he bought six $5 Grillin’ & Chillin’ Scratch-off tickets. When he went home to scratch them off, one of them had the game's $75,000 top prize.
“I scratched it off by just going across without hitting the prizes and got all 15 steaks. I told her [his fiancé, Krystal Luster] and she said, ‘Don’t get excited, it might just be dollars,’” Berryman said.
“I hit the first and it said $2,500. I was like, 'Oh my god, it’s $5,000,'” Berryman said. “All across the first row were $2,500’s and I thought, ‘I think I hit the max.’”
He told officials he was so nervous that he flipped the ticket over and scratched off the other tickets before going back to discover he had won the game’s $75,000 top prize.
“It took a minute for it to even sit in,” Luster said. “We’re talking about what we could actually do with the money. We’ve struggled all of our lives and we’re finally at a place where we don’t need the money, but it will make a big difference in our lives."
Lottery officials said the couple drove to headquarters the next day, where Berryman walked away with a check for $53,625 after taxes.
The couple told lottery officials they would use the money towards a down payment on a house.
Five Star will receive $750 for selling the winning ticket, officials said.
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