LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Jeffrey Yeager enjoys playing the Kentucky Lottery, but he usually prefers buying scratch-off tickets.
Yeager said he was planning on buying a $1 scratch-off from a Kentucky Lottery vending machine inside a Circle K near his Versailles home, but he ended up with a winning Kentucky 5 ticket worth more than a half-million dollars.
"I’ve never played it before, ever," Yeager said. "I paid a dollar for it."
Kentucky 5 is a draw game that boasts a Kentucky exclusive rolling jackpot. The jackpot was up to $530,000 when Yeager's Quick-Pick ticket matched all five numbers for the Jan. 20 drawing.
"I put $6 into the machine, and they didn’t have a dollar scratch-off," he said. "I thought, 'well, let’s try this one.'"
Yeager doesn't usually play draw games, and said he has only played Powerball once. Although he has luck playing scratch-offs, Yeager said nothing compares to the Kentucky 5 jackpot win.
"I couldn’t believe it," he said. "There’s no way this is real!"
Yeager said he found out he was a winner when he scanned the ticket the next day. When the vending machine display displayed a message that said "Visit Kentucky Lottery Headquarters," he knew it was something big.
"Everybody probably overheard me scream," Yeager recalled. "A woman came up to me and said, 'honey, are you ok?' And, I said, 'yes, ma'am. I'm great!'"
Yeager said he and his wife scanned the ticket at several other lottery retailers just to make sure it was real.
Yeager said his whole family was excited about the win and the trip to lottery headquarters the following Monday.
"Maybe, I’m just dreaming and haven’t woken up yet," he said. "I never thought in my life that I’d have this much money. I needed it."
Jeffrey and his wife walked away with a check for $381,600 after taxes. Circle K in Versailles will receive $5,300 for selling the winning ticket.
Yeager said he plans to use some of the jackpot winnings to put a down payment on a house.
“I might even get me a diesel truck," Yeager said.
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