18th birthday lottery debut pays off almost immediately
By Kate Northrop
COLUMBUS, Ohio — An Ohio man decided to try out the lottery for the first time on his 18th birthday and won $10,000 just within hours of becoming old enough to play.
Beginner's luck to the extreme: an 18-year-old Ohio resident won a $10,000 prize in the lottery on his milestone birthday.
On Aug. 14, the Ohio Lottery announced that one of its youngest — and newest — players named Austin just collected a $10,000 prize after purchasing a scratch-off "sort of as a joke."
The Lewis Center man told Lottery officials that, just after midnight on his birthday on Aug. 6, he and his friend decided to go to a gas station, the Sheetz at 1555 Polaris Parkway in Columbus.
Since he was finally of legal age, he thought about buying a lottery ticket as a gag. He went up to a vending machine and recalled that he intended to buy one ticket in particular "but didn't put enough money in."
Austin instead chose the first $20 ticket that caught his eye, the "$300 Million Diamond Dazzler" scratch-off game.
He was floored when his first-ever lottery ticket revealed a $10,000 third-tier prize.
The friend who accompanied Austin is a year older than him and therefore has had the opportunity to play the lottery before.
"This is not how adult life goes!" his friend joked.
Austin claimed his prize and received $7,325 after federal and state taxes.
It's the perfect timing for the future firefighter and hopeful MMA fighter, who explained that his 2004 truck has more than 300,000 miles and has "started acting up." He'll use the nice sum to buy a new vehicle, he said to Lottery staff.
The $20 "$300 Million Diamond Dazzler" scratch-off game, which launched in November 2024, offers ten top prizes of $2 million, five of which remain. There are also 50 out of 80 second-tier prizes of $20,000 and 246 out of 400 third-tier prizes of $10,000 left to win.
The overall odds of winning any prize in the game are 1 in 3.33.
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Congrats on your first win at this tender age. Enjoy your money but keep in mind that it doesn't always work out like that. Play responsibly so you don't end up screwing yourself.
That's right mypiemaster,
Beginner's luck is just as it sounds.
Don't keep thinking it's that easy, otherwise you'll end up being in the red in the long run.
What great luck! I'll keep an eye out for his UFC debut!
Didn't win nearly as much, but won almost $1100 hitting a couple pick 3 straight tickets on the second time I played. Was older than 18 and hooked ever since.
The good news is I don't have to win a $billion dollar jackpot just to break even.