Foreign player ‘shocked’ after winning huge Kentucky Lottery scratch-off prize

A Tennessee man and his father recently hit the jackpot when he spotted a seven-figure prize on a Kentucky Lottery scratch-off ticket.

Jody, whose last name the Kentucky Lottery asked not to release, claimed his prize after his father bought a $1,000,000 Casino Nights scratch-off ticket at a Logan County convenience store in early June. Jody’s father scratched the card at the market and had high hopes for his potential winnings, lottery officials said.

“I told (the clerk), ‘If I win this million dollars, I’ll never eat mortadella again,'” Jody’s father said of the Kentucky Lottery.

Jody’s father revealed the scratch game’s jackpot, $1 million, in the first rows of the ticket. In shock, he called his son to tell him the big news.

“He said to me, ‘You’ll never believe what I just did,’” Jody told lottery officials. “And I said, ‘What?’ He said, ‘We just won $1 million!’ I was sitting there thinking, ‘Yeah, that’s true. I don’t believe you!’”

The father and son from Springfield, Tennessee, went to Kentucky Lottery headquarters two days later to claim their prize, which was about $700,000 in a lump sum (or about $504,000 after taxes ). Adairville Market, located at 135 S. Main St. in Adairville, will receive a $7,000 bonus for selling the winning scratch-off ticket, according to lottery officials.

Jody told the Kentucky Lottery that his family’s big win didn’t affect his weekend plans. In fact, he mowed the lawn and tended to his garden as usual.

In a statement to lottery officials, Jody said he plans to invest the money and help his family live a more comfortable life.

“You go home and you’re debt-free,” Jody told the Kentucky Lottery. “The houses are paid off. The cars are paid off, it’s done. We’ll probably be bill-free next week.”

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The $1,000,000 Casino Nights ticket requires players to reveal three matching symbols in one of 20 “games” that resemble slot machine screens. Each ticket for the instant-win game costs $20, with additional bonuses and multipliers available through chance.

According to the rules and regulations of the Kentucky Lottery, the odds of winning a prize on a Casino Nights scratch card worth $1,000,000 are approximately 1 in 2.74. However, the odds of winning the $700,000 cash prize, which can be as much as $1 million in the form of $50,000 per year for 20 years, are about 1 in 400,000, according to lottery estimates .

About three winning tickets are expected in each batch of 1.2 million tickets ordered, according to the Kentucky Lottery. Actual number of winners, actual prize amount, actual payout percentage and actual odds of winning may vary.

Kentucky Lottery sales in 2023 exceeded $1.8 billion.

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

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