Kentucky UPS driver gets special gift after winning big on Powerball days before Christmas
Just in time for the holidays, a delivery driver has scored a big Kentucky Lottery Powerball win.
Jeffery Goree, a UPS employee and Lexington resident, claimed his Powerball ticket — worth $50,000 — days before Christmas, the state lottery said in a Monday, Dec. 30, news release.
During his commute to Beckley, W.Va., Goree purchased multiple Powerball tickets driving through Kentucky. He has been playing for a long time, he told Kentucky Lottery officials, and also plays with a group that buys into the Mega Millions jackpot.
Mega Millions’ creeping jackpot recently reached a staggering $1.22 billion, won Dec. 27 by a California lottery player.
The winning Powerball ticket for Goree, however, was purchased at Clark’s Pump-N-Shop on Versailles Road in Lexington Dec. 14. It was several days before he took that ticket, along with others, to a convenience station to check them and realized he had won.
“I was checking them. I had about 15 tickets to check and was down to the last two tickets,” Goree told the lottery, per the release. “It showed, ‘Congratulations, you won $50,000, contact KLC Corp.’ I said, ‘Man this machine is messed up.’ I scanned it again. I’m like, ‘Nah, this machine is messed up.’”
The machine was not wrong, however — a fact Goree confirmed by having an employee scan the ticket.
“All I could do was stand there and cry,” the Lexington man said.
In Powerball, players must select five white ball numbers along with a red Powerball. To win, some combination of a player’s numbers must match those drawn. The game includes quick pick multipliers and a double play additional game, and players can have their ticket numbers randomly generated
Odds vary by win, but the $50,000 prize, won by matching four white balls and Powerball, has odds of about 1 in 913,000.
Goree claimed his prize at the lottery’s Louisville headquarters a few days before Christmas, taking home a check for $36,000 after taxes.
“I would give this money up if I could get just one more Christmas with my mother,” he told Kentucky Lottery officials. His mother, who died three years ago, was a fan of scratch-off tickets.
“That’s why I stopped,” he said. “I would usually be getting scratch-off tickets, so I’ll go in here and check these tickets.”
With his Powerball win, Goree plans to pay off debt and save.
The store that sold the ticket is also a winner, getting a $500 bonus.
Goree isn’t the only big local lottery winner this month. A Nicholasville man also recently scored a $50,000 lottery prize on a seasonal-themed scratch-off ticket.
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 December 30, 2024 at 2:09 PM.