$1M Powerball ticket sold at Bellerive gas station

Published 10:17 am Thursday, August 13, 2020

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A customer at the Circle K convenience store in Bellerive Plaza is several hundred thousand dollars richer this week after winning Saturday’s $1 million Powerball prize.

Jennifer Cunningham, a spokesperson for the Kentucky Lottery, said Monday the lottery’s offices in Louisville haven’t heard from the winner yet. But the next day, Angela Jones, an assistant manager of the store, said she knows him.

“He’s one of our regular customers, but I don’t know his name,” she said. “He lives in Nicholasville, and he’s a good person. Every time he comes in here, he buys a lottery ticket.”

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This time, it paid off in a big way.

The winner, whoever he is, will receive a lump sum of $710,000 after federal and state taxes.

And the gas station will get a $10,000 bonus for selling the ticket.

The winner has 180 days to claim his cash.

He may call 800-937-8946.

Cunningham said the $1 million winner matched all five of the white numbers — 2, 3, 14, 40 and 51 — but did not get the Powerball, which was 24. So he didn’t get the $158 million jackpot.

His odds of winning the $1 million, she said, were one in 11,688,054.

His chances of winning the jackpot were one in 292,201,338.

It’s unusual, Cunningham said, that a lottery winner doesn’t claim their prize, but usually they don’t come in to validate their ticket for a couple of weeks. They usually want to get advice first, from their financial adviser or a lawyer, for example. Because of COVID-19, they have to call and schedule their visit.

The Kentucky Lottery Corporation advises winners to sign the back of their ticket immediately upon learning they won.

Cunningham said that about half the time the winners never reveal their identity, although it is a matter of public record if someone wanted to go to the trouble of filing a formal open records request because the lottery corporation is a quasi-public agency that funds the KEES Scholarship program and other state scholarship and grant programs.

A Powerball ticket costs $2. The way to play the game is that a player chooses five white balls (numbered 1 to 69) and the Powerball number (1 to 26) or selects a Quick Pick to let the computer randomly select the numbers. They choose the number of drawings they want to play. And for an additional $1, they can choose a Power Play to multiply their winnings, excluding the jackpot.

Participants must be at least 18 years old to play.

The next drawing is Aug. 12.

More information about the Kentucky Lottery is available at kylottery.com/apps.

About Randy Patrick

Randy Patrick is a reporter for Bluegrass Newsmedia, which includes The Jessamine Journal. He may be reached at 859-759-0015 or by email at randy.patrick@bluegrassnewsmedia.com.

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