KY woman cashes in 5-figure lottery ticket she nearly threw away before scratching

A Kentucky woman is celebrating an $80,000 lottery win after nearly tossing the winning ticket in the trash.

Pamela Howard-Thorton, of Shepherdsville, told Kentucky Lottery officials she had been eyeing the $5 Flamingo Bingo scratch-off game for some time, but hadn’t gotten the chance to play, according to a Wednesday release from the agency.

A dream of a large jackpot win finally won her over.

“I just had this premonition — go get that ticket,” she said, per the release.

Initially, Howard-Thorton purchased a different lottery ticket, a lucky move as it proved to be a $200 winner.

But she decided to return to the retailer, a Speedway in Lebanon Junction, later that day for the Flamingo Bingo game, purchasing four tickets.

“They laid on the counter all day long. I had forgotten about them so at about 11:30 that night I decided to play them. The first three were not winners so I put them in the trash. Then I was like ‘where’s my fourth ticket?’ I looked in the trash and I was like, ‘oh, my gosh, I threw it away,’” she told lottery officials.

The fourth ticket was the big winner, with an $80,000 prize, though Howard-Thorton asked her husband to check behind her before eventually scanning the ticket with Kentucky Lottery’s mobile app.

“I scanned it, of course, I started crying, and I started shouting and screaming,” the Shepherdsville woman said. “I immediately called my daughter and my mom. My mom has always said she would give anything if she could just see me hit a big ticket before something happens to her. When I called her the night I won, she was so thankful and happy for me.”

In Flamingo Bingo, players scratch caller’s numbers along the top of the ticket, hoping for a bingo across four grids. Prizes range up to the top $80,000 mark, though most are between $5 and $20. The overall odds of winning any prize on the game are 1 in 3.84, according to the lottery.

After taxes, Howard-Thorton took home a prize of $57,600. The Speedway that sold the ticket earned an $800 bonus.

The Shepherdsville woman isn’t the only big Kentucky Lottery winner recently. Earlier this month, the agency reported a Campbellsville man turned a $5 Instant Play bet on his lunch break into a lucky $30,000 win.

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

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