Nine years, seven months, and 29 days
By Kate Northrop
LEXINGTON, Ky. — The persistence of a Kentucky man who has dedicated over nine years to playing the lottery finally paid off when he won a $25,000 a year for life Lucky for Life prize.
It's a dream come true for a Kentucky lottery enthusiast who has been counting the exact number of days he's been playing the lottery since winning a $25,000 a year for life Lucky for Life prize.
Billy Glenn of Lexington has an eye for detail — he's been keeping track of the total number of years, months, and days he's been playing the lottery.
"I've been playing for nine years, seven months and 29 days since the day I won Lucky for Life," Glenn told the Kentucky Lottery. "I've just been waiting for the dream."
His dedication extends all the way back to when sales first began for Lucky for Life on March 22, 2015. He consistently plays the same two sets of numbers inspired by anniversaries and jersey numbers of his favorite major league baseball players, he told Lottery officials.
His lucky day finally came when he purchased a Lucky for Life ticket at Southland BP on Southland Drive in Lexington for the Nov. 19 draw. He matched all five white ball numbers — 7, 10, 17, 24, and 26 — to win $25,000 a year for life, the game's second-tier prize.
"I looked at my ticket and I'm like, I've got the Lucky Ball (13) and 10 on one line," Glenn recalled the moment he checked his ticket at home.
Had he matched the final Lucky Ball number 13 in that same line, he would have won $1,000 a day for life. His Lucky Ball number was 12, just one single number away from the top prize.
"I was that close from getting it all," he added.
Nevertheless, Glenn was more than grateful when he showed up at Lottery headquarters in Louisville on Nov. 22 to claim the prize. He opted to receive the prize as a cash option payout of $390,000 and took home $280,804.32 after taxes.
"It's been a blessing," Glenn said. "I've been stressing for the last six months."
The winnings will help pay off debt, after which he'll use the prize money to fix up miscellaneous parts of his house.
"One hundred thousand dollars is going to put me at ground zero," Glenn remarked. "This is a nice little reset."
For selling the winning ticket, the retailer will receive a $5,000 bonus from the Lottery.
The odds of winning the second-tier Lucky for Life prize of $25,000 a year for life are 1 in 1,813,028.
Lucky for Life drawings take place every day at 10:38 pm EST. Tickets cost $2 each. All winning numbers, odds and prize amounts can be found on Lottery Post's Multi-State Lottery Results page.
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Nine years, 7 months and 29 days is hardly a very long time to be playing the lottery for. Most of us have been playing for 45 years or more now. I hope he doesn't feel like he waited and waited and finally it happened like it was supposed to happen after all that time. He's a novice, an upstart, a rookie lottery player with only that amount of time in.
"His dedication extends all the way back to when sales first began for Lucky for Life on March 22, 2015. He consistently plays the same two sets of numbers"
Notes: On July 19, 2021 Lucky for Life changed from a twice-weekly game (Mon., Thu.) to daily drawings, and the drawings were changed from traditional lottery ball drawings conducted by the Connecticut Lottery to computerized drawings conducted by MUSL in Iowa.
Maybe not, but considering how much he's spent over the years at $2 each play (assuming tix are $1 each)...
Wait,are tickets now $2 each, since when?
it would add up to quite a bit and would seem like a lifetime to him.
I'm not doing the math for this. So many draws at 2x/week (7 yrs)+ daily draws since 2021?
No wonder he's been stressing for the past 6 months.
He may have been thinking that he may not be able to keep playing
I cannot relate to that when people are now buying 20.00 and 30.00 scratch off tickets and not even stopping to consider the financial ramifications of doing that. 2.00 a ticket every night (he probably bought 2 sets of numbers like most do) isn't going to have someone wringing their hands over the fact that they may no longer be able to afford it and have to win the thing soon which he did and for that I give him credit not congratulations which are not warranted for a lottery winner. As long as you continue to have an income of some sort 14.00 or 28.00 a week isn't going to break you. You either play the lottery or you don't. If you do you should play every day. This game that he played is one I would never play because the prizes are too meager for the amount of matrix numbers in it.
I totally agree, stick to what you've always done.
Sure you can buy the odd scratch off here and there but keep up the same daily plays