Restaurant manager feels "blessed" by the win

By Kate Northrop

DRAKESBORO, Ky. — A Kentucky woman follows a personal tradition of playing the lottery on paydays, and it paid off to the tune of a $250,000 top prize.

One Kentucky woman earned more than just a paycheck on her recent payday — $250,000 more — when she stopped at a local retailer to buy a lottery ticket.

Kellee Reed of Drakesboro is grateful for the six-figure lottery win that recently came her way. Earlier this month, she visited the Eagles VII gas station on North Prine Avenue in Drakesboro to follow through on a personal tradition.

She told the Kentucky Lottery that she will usually stop to purchase lottery tickets on paydays, which was exactly what she sought to do when she spotted the $10 "$250,000 Cash Blowout" ticket at the retailer.

Reed scratched the ticket off at home, and it didn't take long for the win to reveal itself.

"I saw [the 2X symbol] and I was like, 'Oh, I got $25,'" Reed told Lottery officials.  "I saw another two times and a five times, and I kept on scratching."

"No way," she realized. "I got $250,000! This isn't real."

She contacted her parents first about the big win, who seemed skeptical at first.

"They were like, 'Uh, uh, let us see the ticket,'" Reed recalled. "My mom started doing the math with me. She told me, 'You got lucky.'"

Sure enough, everyone could agree that Reed had truly won a hefty $250,000 prize. Her brother accompanied her in the drive to Lottery headquarters in Louisville on Sept. 9. After withheld taxes, the Lottery handed her a check for $180,000.

"I'm very excited for her," Reed's brother said to Lottery officials. "She works hard."

The lucky lottery winner, who works as a restaurant manager, explained she plans on putting the winnings in savings for now.

"I was blessed," she said.

The retailer that sold the winning ticket also wins out. The Eagles gas station will receive a check for $2,500 from the Lottery.

Following Reed's win, there are three remaining top prizes of $250,000 in the $10 "$250,000 Cash Blowout" scratch-off game, which launched in August. There are also 37 second-tier prizes of $2,500 and 134 third-tier prizes of $1,000 left to claim.

The overall odds of winning any prize in the game are 1 in 2.99.

(Click to display full-size in gallery)Kellee Reed of Drakesboro is all smiles while holding her ceremonial $250,000 check from the Kentucky Lottery.

(Click to display full-size in gallery)A photo of the actual winning ticket.