While cashing winning scratch-off, Frankfort man purchases lottery ticket worth $225K

A Frankfort man fulfilled a longtime dream this week after winning $225,000 playing Kentucky Lottery’s Cash Ball 225.

The man and his wife, who wish to remain anonymous, according to the lottery, visited Circle K on Schenkel Lane in Frankfort Saturday to cash a winning scratch-off and purchased five Cash Ball 225 tickets.

The next morning, they discovered one of the tickets matched the four white balls and the Cash Ball in the Jan. 7 drawing to win the game’s big prize.

“I always dreamed of doing this,” the man said, according to a Tuesday Kentucky Lottery release.

The Circle K earns a $2,250 bonus for selling the ticket.

The man had a hard time believing his luck when he checked his tickets, he told the lottery, and ended up waking up his wife with the news.

“I was in a dead sleep and thought something bad happened when he told me we had won $225,000,” the wife told lottery officials. “I’m not a morning person but I sat up in bed real fast. He handed me the ticket and said, ‘You’ve got to look at this.’”

The odds of winning top prize in Cash Ball 225 are 1 in 1,309,000, according to Kentucky Lottery.

After claiming their winnings at lottery headquarters in Louisville, the couple walked away with a check for $160,878.57 after taxes.

The couple told lottery officials they were retired, but were working part-time and the lottery earnings would allow them to enjoy time with family instead. The winners plan to pay off their mortgage and live debt-free, the lottery release said.

They won’t stop playing the lottery, however.

“There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t have a ticket. I’m not going to quit now,” the man told lottery officials.

If you or someone you know has a problem with gambling, help is available at 1-800-522-4700.

Do you have a question about the lottery in Kentucky for our service journalism team? We’d like to hear from you. Fill out our Know Your Kentucky form or email ask@herald-leader.com.