Lottery ticket gifted to Eastern Kentucky woman for birthday sends her running for joy
A birthday gift ended up as a $50,000 Kentucky Lottery win for one woman in Eastern Kentucky after her aunt decided to purchase a $50 Millionaire Club ticket.
Brianna Vanhoose of Salyersville in Magoffin County told Kentucky Lottery officials she’s not a regular player, a Friday news release from the agency said. When Vanhoose scratched off the ticket, the rush of the big win drew out an exhilarated scream.
“I was behind her, and I didn’t know what was wrong and nobody else did either,” the woman’s aunt, who was not named in the release, said. “She just kept screaming.”
“I scratched it, and I saw it and I just took off running,” Vanhoose said.
At a cost of $50 per play, the Millionaire Club ticket offers a top prize of $1 million. The $50,000 is the game’s second-place prize, and there are smaller prizes ranging from $75 to $10,000. The overall odds of winning any prize are 1 in 2.98.
As of Oct. 24, only 73 prizes worth $50,000 remained up for grabs.
Vanhoose had a hard time believing how lucky she was.
“I still don’t know what to think,” she said. “It still doesn’t seem real.”
Her aunt’s birthday generosity paid off, however.
“This was the first time I had ever bought the $50 ticket,” her aunt told the lottery. “I bought two tickets, and I scratched one and gave her one for her birthday.”
Vanhoose and her aunt traveled to Kentucky Lottery headquarters in Louisville Oct. 15 to collect the winnings, a requirement for big prizes. After taxes, Vanhoose took home a check for $36,000.
The Kentucky Lottery has announced several $50,000 prize winners recently, including another winner in Western Kentucky revealed earlier this week.
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