Kentucky man plans summer vacation thanks to ‘mind numbing’ lottery scratch-off prize
A memorable summer vacation is in the works for one Kentucky man after he was “stunned” with a $50,000 win on a lottery scratch-off ticket last week.
According to a Tuesday release from Kentucky Lottery, Dale George of Nicholasville was surprised by his win on a $30 Mega Multiplier! purchased last week after work.
The game — which has players scratch-off numbers to match to winning ones, with added multiplier symbols and bonus games — has overall odds of 1 in 2.61. The top prize is $2.281 million, though most winnings range from $30 to $100.
George purchased two tickets from the vending machine at the East Brannon Road Kroger Wednesday after being struck by the placement of the tickets, the lottery said.
“It was weird because they had two of those Mega Multipliers in one machine and I thought it was kind of odd… so I bought one and I then I said, uh, maybe I’ll buy the other one too, so I bought the other one,” he told lottery officials.
Upon returning home, he scratched his tickets as he waited to take his grandson to camp for the day, only to suspect one of the tickets might be a winner.
“I started scratching the ticket, and when I did, I saw the number 35 and I saw the 50 and I was like, ‘Am I looking at this right?” he said, per the lottery release.
He showed it to his daughter, who cried when she realized his win as he scratched off the $50,000 prize.
“I was like, wait a minute. It was sort of mind numbing. I was really surprised,” he noted.
He visited lottery headquarters in Louisville the same day to claim his prize, which totaled $35,750 after taxes.
With his winnings, George told lottery officials he plans to take a vacation while his grandson is out of school for the summer.
The Kroger location will get a $500 bonus for the ticket sale.
If you or someone you know has a problem gambling, help is available at 1-800-522-4700.
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This story was originally published June 20, 2023 at 3:00 PM.