Powerball: Fort Knox soldier almost trashed winning lottery ticketRating:A soldier stationed at Fort Knox apparently made the right decision when he sifted through his trash to check if his lottery tickets were worth anything.
Kentucky Lottery officials said the soldier, who they said didn't want to be identified, had cleaned out his car and tossed a winning ticket worth $800,000.
But he had second thoughts and decided to go through the trash, find the tickets and check them out.
"He said something just told him to check the tickets, and he did," said Chip Polston, spokesman for the Kentucky Lottery.
He had purchased a ticket from the Aug. 16 Powerball drawing and took home a check for $552,000 after taxes, lottery officials said.
Bob Warren, owner of the store where the ticket was purchased, said customers have been pretty lucky with tickets bought at Warren's Vine Grove Food Mart. He has sold $125,000 and $40,000 tickets this year.
"I've had a few people say they'll buy my tickets because of these winners," Warren said. "This has been the buzz around town for the last few weeks."
