CAMPBELL COUNTY, Ky. — Two people from the same Kentucky county coincidentally both hit the lottery in the same month.
A Dayton, Ky. man, who wished to remain anonymous, was just one number away from winning a Powerball jackpot. His winning ticket matched four white ball numbers and the Powerball in the September 9th drawing to win $50,000. The estimated jackpot was $121 million.
The man told Kentucky Lottery officials he stopped at The Cigarette & Beer Outlet in Dayton and bought a Kentucky Combo ticket which includes the Powerball.
“It’s the first time I bought the Kentucky Combo,” he said. “We always just do Quick Picks, so I figured why not give it a try.”
His girlfriend typically checks their tickets the next day. “She messaged me while I was at work and asked me if I was having fun,” he said. “Then she texted, ‘I’m going to get a car.’ What do you mean, how much is it?” That’s when he began to get anxious about how much they had won. Next, she sent him the screenshot, ‘you are a $50,000 winner.’
“I was one number away from retirement,” he said. “I’m happy with what I got.”
The Campbell County man claimed his prize on Sept. 12, taking home $36,000 after taxes. The first thing he said he will do with the winnings is get out of debt. He also plans to buy a car.
“The reality still hasn’t hit,” he told officials. “I call it nervous anticipation.”
The Cigarette & Beer Outlet will receive $500 for selling the winning ticket.
Less than two weeks later, a woman, also from Dayton, is $431,775 richer after hitting the jackpot playing the Precious 7’s Fast Play game.
The woman, who wished to remain anonymous, said she plays Fast Play regularly.
“I felt like I was going to win the jackpot,” she told lottery officials. “I play Precious 7’s, that’s my game. I just knew I was going to win.”
On Sept. 20, she and her husband stopped at Dayton Market for gas and to buy her ticket. As she left the store, she looked at the ticket in the parking lot and couldn’t believe what she saw.
“I looked at it, then looked back and it said jackpot,” she said. “I thought, ‘Oh my god, oh my god.’”
Her ticket had matched the number 68 to win the jackpot.
The woman then told her husband to get in the car to which he replied, “I’m not done pumping gas.” She insisted he get in, which he replied, “What’d you win, $100?”
The woman took a picture of the ticket and celebrated in the car before telling a few close friends and family members.
“No one believed me,” she told officials. “They all kept saying it was a scam, that it’s a fraud but I knew it was a winner,” she said. ‘I’m going to go get my check,’ I told them.”
The woman traveled to Lottery headquarters in Louisville the following Monday and received a check for $310,878 after taxes. The woman said she plans to pay off bills and help out her family members with her winnings.
Dayton Market will receive $4,317.75 for selling the winning ticket.
