A Missouri Lottery player who thought she had won a $20,000 prize on a “Fistful of $500” Scratchers ticket got a big surprise once she realized the ticket she purchased at FastLane, 519 N. Main in Monroe City, actually contained one of the game’s top prizes of $100,000.

“I scratched it off and saw the $20,000 prize,” the player explained. “So I stopped scratching and went on to my dad’s house.” 

She was still emotional when she arrived.

“I came in crying, and he was just like, ‘What’s wrong?’” she laughed. “I told him I needed him to finish scratching off the ticket!”

Once he had, he told her she had won much more than she thought.

“He just said, ‘Another $100,000!’” she said. “It’s crazy, it’s just crazy.”

The player had previously won on a different game, so this win was even more shocking. 

“I just feel so blessed,” she explained. “I’ve got my kids all sorted out for college now.”

“Fistful of $500” is a $5 Scratchers game that offers prizes ranging from $5 to $100,000. Currently, there are over $8.5 million in unclaimed prizes in the game, including two more top prizes of $100,000.

In FY21, players in Monroe County won more than $2.6 million in Missouri Lottery prizes, retailers received more than $135,000 in commissions and bonuses, and more than $295,000 in Lottery proceeds went to education programs in the county.