FRANKFORT, Ky. (WKYT/Gray News) – A couple in Kentucky plans to go back into retirement after winning the lottery.
“I always dreamed of doing this,” a Frankfort man said after he and his wife won $225,000 on a Kentucky Lottery Cash Ball 225 ticket.
Kentucky Lottery officials say the couple, who wish to remain anonymous, discovered their Cash Ball 225 ticket matched the four white ball numbers and the Cash Ball to win the game’s $225,000 top prize.
The couple had stopped at a Circle K Saturday to cash in a previous win off a Scratch-off ticket when the husband bought five sets of Cash Ball numbers for the January 7 drawing.
The next morning, he checked the tickets and realized they had a winning ticket.
“I looked at it about three times. I had a hard time believing it,” he told lottery officials.
The man couldn’t resist waking up his wife to tell her the good news.
“I was in a dead sleep and thought something bad happened,” she said. “I’m not a morning person, but I sat up in bed real fast. He handed me the ticket and said, ‘You’ve got to look at this.’”
The man was so excited about the win he was shaking uncontrollably and couldn’t sign the ticket, so his wife signed it instead.
“We were both in shock,” she said. “I’ve been so nervous ever since finding out we had won.”
The couple couldn’t wait to claim the ticket, so they drove to lottery headquarters Monday, where they received a check for $160,878.57 after taxes.
The two had retired but returned to work part-time. They say they’re now going to go back to retirement and spend more time with family.
They also told lottery officials they look forward to being able to pay off their house and be debt free.
Despite the win, the couple plans to continue playing the lottery.
“There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t have a ticket. I’m not going to quit now,” the man said.
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