A Missouri Lottery player in West Plains was stunned to discover he had been storing a Powerball ticket worth $50,000 in his truck for months. 

“I purchased tickets in February, and I hadn’t checked them,” he explained. “It was just one of those times where I felt, ‘Well, I probably need to get them out of the console of my pickup.’”

He headed to Casey’s, 1702 Gibson St., to fill up on gas, stopping to check his ticket at the front counter where he’d purchased it months earlier.

He was speechless when the clerk told him how much he’d won. 

“I really didn’t know what to say. I’ve played for years and this is the biggest thing I’ve ever won!”

The winner’s shock over the prize ended up distracting him from his original errand.

“I had paid for gas and even drove off and forgot to get my gas!” he laughed. 

He said he plans to spend some of his winnings on his grandchildren. 

The winning Quick Pick ticket matched four of the five white-ball numbers along with the Powerball in the Feb. 11 drawing. The winning numbers that night were 6, 20, 33, 40 and 48, with a Powerball number of 5.

In FY25, players in Howell County won more than $7.7 million in Missouri Lottery prizes, retailers received more than $645,000 in commissions and bonuses, and more than $459,000 in Lottery proceeds went to educational programs in the county.