LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A Kentucky man was reduced to tears after winning a six-figure lottery prize that paid off his mortgage and all his other debts.
While he was checking out on February 9 at a store in Louisville, Charles Stallard decided to add one more item to his shopping cart: a lottery ticket that can pay fifty times the cash amount that's revealed.
Stallard scratched off the $5 ticket in his truck, revealing a "50x" symbol — meaning the listed winning prize on his ticket would get multiplied by 50.
While this typically signals good news for lottery players, it didn't initially excite Stallard.
"I figured it was going to be $5," he said, according to a news release from the Kentucky Lottery. But the number printed on the ticket was much bigger than that.
"When I scratched off $3,000, I actually started crying," Stallard told lottery officials. "I couldn't believe it!"
He had won the lottery game's grand prize.
Stallard won $150,000 that Friday afternoon, and held onto the winning ticket for the next three days.
The lucky winner "anxiously" waited for Monday to roll around, so he could claim his prize, the Kentucky Lottery said.
Stallard added, "I didn't get much sleep all weekend."
When he redeemed the ticket that Monday, Stallard walked away $108,000 richer after paying the $42,000 tax bill. Stallard told lottery officials that once he got his check, he immediately paid off his mortgage.
"For the first time in my life, I'm not in debt," he said.
The Kentucky resident also said that he would finally get his boat fixed after it had been broken for a year.
"I'm fishing the rest of the year."
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So happy for him. I know paying off your mortgage is the best feeling in the world.
When KLC puts this on FB, which they will, the haters will come out. Usual comments 'always Louisville', and then get so bold as to say it is never the south end of Louisville. To me it seems most come from Covington area up by Cincinnati, but who cares???
I'm happy for him too. A smaller win may not set someone for life, but it can put one in a position so they don't have much to worry about.
Congratulations to him.
Congratulations, what a relief it is to have a huge debt wiped off your chest! I can't wait for that to happen to me!
I love that he had such good financial sense. He deserves to enjoy his fishing.
I agree, hope he catches a whopper
QUESTION: Is the $42,000 that he paid off the top, the Federal and State INCOME TAX on $150,000 , or is it possibly his overdue property taxes, or is it the amount of mortgage he paid off ? I am asking b/c a $42,000 chunk out of $150,000 is a lot of money loss.
Math is not my forte but years ago had sent KLC a message about if I won Cashball 225, what would my net be? They said $171K (prize is $225K). Not an answer to your question. Waiting on KY Floyd on this one, he is very smart about this stuff~
Congratulations. Wow. It must feel really good to be debt free. Congrats again 💰💰
I prefer the Big Mac over the whopper --
That was for taxes, and frankly because it's only 28% of the original prize, he will undoubtedly owe some more taxes on the prize by April 15th of next year.
Overdue property taxes????? He paid off his mortgage.
Exactly. And a lot of people do not realize we have graduated tax brackets, not flat rates, and it takes into account all income.