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More Lottery Winners from Around the Nation
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CONNECTICUT
SERVICE STATION DELIVERS
College junior get a tank of gas and a tuition check all in one day!
April Fools' Day is a day when weird things supposedly happen. And that was certainly the case with Kevyn Kilgore, who had one of the biggest surprises in his young life. Although the calendar said it was officially April Fools' Day, it was certainly no joke when Kilgore, of Milford, revealed a $30,000 top prize on the CT Lottery $3 scratch game, "Trump Card."
It all began when he stopped at a gas station to fill up. While at C&G Gulf Service in Milford, Kilgore decided to buy a $1 scratch ticket. That ticket was a $1 winner. Kilgore then purchased another lottery ticket with his prize, and won again. With each successive ticket, he kept winning. The fourth ticket, however, was a non-winning one.
"I had won $1, $30, and $20 until the fourth ticket I lost. I decided that I'd buy just one more ticket," Kilgore told Lottery officials. The fifth ticket, a "Trump Card," revealed a matching pair of fives, with a $30,000 top prize. He was suddenly a big winner. "That's when I stopped and said, 'Wait a minute, what are the rules to this game?' " Kilgore said laughing.
Kilgore, a third year college student at a local university, arrived at Lottery headquarters in New Britain with his parents to accept a check for $20,001 (the prize value after taxes). Kilgore will put the prize money to good use, he said. He plans to put most all of it towards his college tuition.
For selling Kilgore's top prize winning ticket, C&G Gulf Service is rewarded as well. They receive a $300 bonus check from CT Lottery.
PHOTO COURTESY OF CT LOTTERY
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ARIZONA
FULL OF SURPRISES
Anniversary present to wife is worth $200,000
Most married men give their wives flowers and a nice gift on their Silver Anniversary. Arizona player Donald Hand did that and one better. He gave his wife a lottery ticket worth $200,000.
Hand had his winning $200,000 POWERBALL ticket in his overnight bag, which was in the trunk of his car. Of course, at the time, he had no idea what it was worth.
His wife waited patiently in the car while he went inside to check his tickets. There was a line of about five people waiting behind Donald while three clerks tried to find out what heıd won. When they finally figured it out and told him, everyone standing behind him in line cheered.
Donald then went out to his car, told his wife he was giving her an early anniversary present and handed her the ticket and the claim form. She went into shock when he told her the amount of the ticket.
PHOTO COURTESY OF ARIZONA LOTTERY website
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IOWA
WHAT A WAY TO SPEND THE DAY
Drive through visit worth $250,000
Like the old saying says, it's the "Luck of the Draw" that often wins the big prize. Kathleen Winter of Sibley is certainly proof of that.
She claimed the second $250,000 top prize playing the "$250,000 Luck of the Draw" instant-scratch game. Winter was spending the day with her girlfriend Sharon when they decided to stop by the store to see her husband Tom. The Winters own the store.
"On my way to give [Sharon] a ride to her house, we just drove through the drive through [at the liquor store] and [Tom] said, 'Here, why don't you just scratch some lottery tickets?' "
Winter scratched the tickets on the spot and revealed the big winner! Being a lottery retailer, Winter knew the closest lottery office was in Storm Lake. She didn't want to hang on to the ticket for fear of losing it, but by the time she would arrive at the lottery office, it would be too late to cash the ticket because the office would be closed.
"My girlfriend and I didn't even get out of the car. We just brought it right over [to the Storm Lake lottery office] so that I knew that they had it and that I couldn't lose it or anything because I was so nervous! We got just a little way out of Sibley and the highway patrolman stopped me because I was speeding. But then I showed him my ticket, so he just gave me a warning."
Luckily, Winter had called the lottery office, so lottery officials stuck around for a few minutes to take possession of the ticket for her after she drove the 80 miles to get there! Then she drove back the next day, which was Good Friday, to officially claim her winnings.
As the mother of two sons, both in college, Winter has plenty of ways she could spend her winnings! She doesn't have all of it figured out just yet.
PHOTO COURTESY OF IOWA LOTTERY website
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NORTH CAROLINA
DOUBLE DOWN
A mistake makes two people $200,000 richer
Wayburn Allen, a part-time convenience store clerk in Conover, NC mistakenly rang up a POWERBALL lottery ticket twice for customer Janice Hill for the Wednesday, April 18 drawing. Hill only wanted one so Allen said she would try to see if another player wanted the extra ticket. Allen could not sell the ticket so at the end of her shift she put money into the cash register and took the ticket home. It turned out they both held a lucky ticket!
Both ladies made the trip to North Carolina Education Lottery headquarters on Thursday, April 19 to collect their winnings. Allen arrived first and was all smiles. It was her birthday, and she said the winning ticket was quite an unexpected prize. Hill arrived later and ran into Allen in the NCEL lobby. Once the two realized who the other was, they started hugging and laughing.
PHOTO COURTESY OF NORTH CAROLINA LOTTERY website
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MISSOURI
WWII VET CLAIMS $254 MILLION JACKPOT
$1 Quick Pick ticket investment yields huge profit
James Wilson, an 84-year-old retired electrician from Missouri, has claimed the $254 million Powerball jackpot from the January 24th drawing. Wilson, a World War II veteran from St. Louis, bought the lucky ticket an hour before the drawing. Wilson asked the clerk for a $5 ticket shortly before the Powerball drawing. The clerk mentioned that the shop had some $5 Powerball "Quick Pick" tickets with computer-selected numbers already printed. Wilson agreed to purchase one of those and took the next ticket: it happened to be the big winner!
Wilson and his wife, Shirley, 79, have three grown sons, James, 59, William, 54, and Terril, 53, all of St. Louis. The family has been pooling their money and buying lottery tickets for years with an agreement to share the winnings. "We all buy family Powerball tickets, but mom and dad only buy tickets when the jackpot gets high," said Terril Wilson. "I think this is the first one he's bought in the last six months. This ticket only cost us $1 each, which we were happy to pay."
Lottery officials with the Missouri Lottery said the family had hired a former U.S. Internal Revenue Service lawyer to help it handle the winnings.
PHOTO COURTESY OF MISSOURI LOTTERY website
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IDAHO
NO APRIL FOOLS PRANK
Win fuels dream to build dream property
Beverly Owens had a difficult time convincing her employers why she was going to be a little late for work. For Owens, this was no April Fools prank when she stopped in Idaho Lottery Headquarters holding a winning $200,000 Powerball ticket from the Saturday, March 31st Powerball drawing.
Owens bought the quick-pick ticket from the Jacksons Store located on the corner of Five Mile Road and Fairview in Boise. She and her husband were on their way to Kamiah for the weekend where they are developing their dream property. They are hoping to move there in a few years. "This couldnıt have come at a better time for us," explained Owens, an 11-year Boise resident. "We are making a lot of improvements to the land, getting ready to build and we worried about where the money for our dreams was going to come from."
At first, Owens couldn't believe what she saw. "I read the numbers then took my glasses off and checked them again and again before I started whooping and hollering," said the exuberant assistant manager of a local mortgage company. It turned out to be the winner, matching the five white numbers but missing the Powerball number.
PHOTO COURTESY OF IDAHO LOTTERY website
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SOUTH CAROLINA
ROAD TRIP
Rest stop purchases yield winning $15 million ticket
Dick Sandlin along with his wife, Colleen, arrived at the South Carolina Lottery's Columbia Claims Center 13 days after learning they held the winning $15 million Powerball jackpot ticket. "I called my CPA and a tax lawyer before we claimed the prize," said 79-year-old Dick, of Wilmington, North Carolina. "I'm still dreaming. I guess when I wake-up, I'll jump up and down."
Traveling from their summer home in Florida, Dick and Colleen purchased lottery tickets in every state along the way. "We bought one in Florida; one in Georgia," said Dick. "When we were approaching the North Carolina line, I told my wife we needed to purchase a Powerball ticket in South Carolina."
"The (winning) ticket really should be mine," said Colleen laughing. "He jumped in front of me in line."
When asked what they plan to do with the money, "I'm going to buy a RC Cola and a Moon Pie," said Dick. They chose to take the lump sum amount of $7.1 million before taxes. "I'll get the seven and he'll get the one," said Colleen. The couple will be married 50 years in October. They have two daughters and two grandchildren. The Sandlin's plan to continue to purchase their lottery tickets in South Carolina. They feel luckier in the Palmetto State.
PHOTO COURTESY OF SOUTH CAROLINA LOTTERY website
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MINNESOTA
LUCKY 7s
It's a very lucky number for the family
The number "7" has certainly been lucky for Ted Fischer of Wadena, MN. Fischer claimed a $77,777 Extreme 7s Scratch Game prize after buying three or four Extreme 7s, tickets since his daughter won a $1,000 prize.
On Monday, May 14, Fischer drove to the Baxter area on business. He stopped at the Triangle Store at 540 Dellwood Drive N. in Baxter, cashed a winning $5 Extreme 7s ticket and bought another. As he left the store, Fischer scratched the winning numbers on the ticket, found a "7" and set the ticket on the passenger seat.
Later, he scratched the prize amount and saw that he had won $77,777. "That's more than I usually see," Fischer said of the prize. "I think my eyes about fell out of my head!
Fischer explained that he has been winning small prizes on the tickets, which he would then trade for new tickets. "They all carried their own weight, until this one exploded!" he said of his $77,777 winning ticket. "I think I beat [my daughter's] success by quite a bit."
PHOTO COURTESY OF MINNESOTA LOTTERY website
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WASHINGTON, D.C.
LET'S CHAT
Neighborhood store has been popular with lottery players since 1982
Burnett Williams, 29, of Chat's Liquors on 8th St. in Southeast D.C., knows how to run a successful lottery business. After all, he had a good teacher: his father, who was an original lottery retailer back when the agency started in 1982.
"This is a family business, and my father was a very smart businessman. Its amazing how much I learned from him just growing up. I was 21 when my father passed away, but he taught me the importance of good product selection and having a friendly staff. Running a small, neighborhood store is all about customer service," he said. "We know our customers by name. We're happy when they win."
Williams, his sister Opal, and mother Ophelia have learned their lessons well, and Chatıs is one of the most popular lottery retail stores in the area.
"We've had some big winners," Williams said, "most notably Richard Currier, a D.C. resident who won $250,000 playing QUICK CA$H a few years ago. We also had a customer win $80,000 playing a Scratcher. Weıre still waiting for that big POWERBALL and HOT LOTTO winner."
Williams himself enjoys playing POWERBALL. "Yeah, I go for the big one," he laughed. "I figure if Iım going to be lucky, I might as well hit the top prize. A fun time for us is when the POWERBALL jackpot rises to $150 million. Then the mania really starts."
PHOTO: LISA HELFERT PHOTOGRAPHY
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KANSAS
A FORTUNATE SERIES OF EVENTS
Out of Gas stop leads to $20,000 win
Jeanette Hahn of Topeka, KS, needed a new lawn mower.
So she, and her husband, Charles, got into their car and went to a nearby town to get one. After looking around, in Big Springs, KS, they ran out of gas.
"I told Charles we better head for the nearest gas station because I didnıt want to get stuck in the truck with no gas," said Hahn.
After fueling their truck, they decided to try their luck playing Bonus Crossword instant scratch tickets. Hahn purchased eight tickets, giving Charles four tickets and keeping four tickets for herself. After leaving the convenience store, the couple finally found a lawn mower and went home and scratched their tickets.
"We play Bonus Crossword tickets at least three times a week," said Hahn. "I've won $500 and $2,000 before playing Crossword. If it wasn't for us looking for a lawn mower and running low on gas, we never would have won."
PHOTO COURTESY OF KANSAS LOTTERY website
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