A Missouri Lottery player’s decision to take a chance on a Scratchers ticket he had never played before turned into a big win in Jasper County.
“I’ve never played the $50 games before so I thought, ‘Why not?’” the winner said.
He purchased a “500X” Scratchers ticket at Casey’s, 1254 E. Central St. in Oronogo, and took it out to his car to scratch it off, quickly discovering he had found one of the game’s $50,000 prizes.
“I went out there and scratched it off and almost passed out!” he joked.
He quickly got out his phone and called his wife, who had a very emotional reaction to the news.
“It was just tears,” he said. “It was just nice to be able to pay off some stuff that we had been wanting to pay off.”
“500X” is one of three $50 Scratchers games currently offered by the Lottery. In total, players have won over $186.7 million playing the game, with $70.9 million remaining in unclaimed prizes, including a top prize of $5 million and 15 additional $50,000 prizes.
Players who purchased tickets in Jasper County last fiscal year won more than $15 million in total Missouri Lottery prizes. Retailers received more than $1.4 million in commissions and bonuses, and education programs in the county received more than $3.5 million in appropriated Lottery proceeds.
