Kentucky

Kentucky woman splurges on a $50 lottery ticket at gas station. It was a great choice

A Breathitt County woman who isn’t a regular lottery player lucked out and scratched off a ticket worth $50,000 recently.

According to the Kentucky Lottery, the woman wishes to remain anonymous.

On May 30, when she was traveling back home from Lexington with her daughter, the woman stopped to fill up her husband’s truck.

“It had hit on empty at Clay City, and I pulled in,” the woman told lottery officials, according to a Wednesday news release. “I had a $100 bill, so I went in and put $50 of gas in his truck.”

On her way out the door, she decided to spend the remaining $50 on a lottery ticket, playing the Kentucky Lottery’s $50 Millionaire Club game.

“I don’t play the lottery,” the woman said. “I thought, ‘I’ll get a ticket and let my daughter scratch it on the way home.’ I started to get two $20 tickets and a $5 ticket since the machine wouldn’t take one of my $5 bills.”

A Kentucky woman won $50,000 before taxes May 30 on this Millionaire Club ticket, which her daughter scratched off on a drive.
A Kentucky woman won $50,000 before taxes May 30 on this Millionaire Club ticket, which her daughter scratched off on a drive. Kentucky Lottery

Swapping out her $5 bill at the cash register, the woman bought her $50 lottery ticket.

“I tossed the ticket to my daughter in the truck and said, ‘Here, make your dad happy tonight,’” the woman said, per the Kentucky Lottery.

Back in the truck, her daughter scratched off the ticket, revealing the $50,000 win.

The woman’s daughter told her the news and they immediately FaceTimed her husband.

“When they called, I thought they had wrecked my truck, but they had smiles on their faces, so I figured everything was okay,” her husband said. “They said they won a little bit of money but never would have thought it was $50,000.”

The woman said she and her daughter had been discussing money on the drive back home when they stopped for gas.

“She told me, “Mom, it’ll be okay, it’ll work out and then this happened,” she said. “It was wonderful!”

After taxes, the woman took home a check for $36,000. The couple told lottery officials they plan to buy furniture with the extra money.

“We’re tickled to death about this,” the woman’s husband said. “This comes at a really good time and is a blessing.”

Gasoline Alley, the station in Clay City where the woman bought her ticket, will receive $500.

This is the second $50,000 winner on Millionaire Club the lottery has announced this week. Monday, the agency reported a Lebanon man had also won the prize.

If you or someone you know has a gambling problem, help is available. Call the National Problem Gambling Helpline at 1-800-GAMBLER.

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.

Aaron Mudd
Lexington Herald-Leader
Aaron Mudd was a service journalism reporter for the Lexington Herald-Leader, Centre Daily Times and Belleville News-Democrat. He was based at the Herald-Leader in Lexington, and left the paper in February 2026. Support my work with a digital subscription
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