'No one believed me' | Two Northern Kentucky residents win big on separate Kentucky Lottery tickets

DAYTON, Ky — The wallets of two Northern Kentucky residents just got a lot heavier after the two won separate cash prizes from the Kentucky Lottery last month.

A Dayton man who wishes to remain anonymous was just one number away from winning the $121 million Powerball jackpot in September. His ticket matched the four white ball numbers and the Powerball in the Sept. 9 drawing, winning him $50,000.

The man told Kentucky Lottery officials he bought the “Kentucky Combo,” which consists of five different draw game tickets including the Powerball with numbers selected by the lottery machine, while at work.

He then picked the tickets up at The Cigarette & Beer Outlet in Dayton.

The next day, his girlfriend checked the ticket and told him he had won $50,000. He took home $36,000 after taxes.

“I was one number away from retirement,” he told officials.

The man said he plans to use the money to pay off debt and buy a car.

He wasn’t the only Dayton resident celebrating a big win, though.

A woman who also wishes to remain anonymous won $431,775 on the Precious 7’s Fast Play game. She told lottery officials she regularly plays Fast Play after someone told her they always won on the game.

“I play Precious 7’s, that’s my game,” she told officials. “I just knew I was going to win.”

She won big when she bought her ticket while her husband was getting gas at the Dayton Market on Sept. 20. She told officials she told her husband to get in the car before he was finished pumping gas once she saw her ticket.

“No one believed me,” she told officials. “They all kept saying it was a scam, that it’s a fraud but I knew it was a winner.”

After taxes, she took home a check for $310,878. She said she plans to use the money to pay off bills and help her family.

The Cigarette & Beer Outlet in Dayton will get $500 for selling the man’s winning ticket, while Dayton Market gets $4,317.75 for its ticket.