Ohio woman's wish to take pressure off her partner comes true
By Kate Northrop
DAYTON, Ohio — After an Ohio couple came up with a code phrase they'd use in case they'd ever won the lottery, and when one of them won a $1 million prize, it went by the wayside.
An Ohio man said his wife manifested a $1 million prize when she vowed to win the lottery to take pressure off him because of his long hours at work.
Husband and wife Brian and Kimberlin always dreamed of winning the lottery together. In case they'd ever won, they agreed that the code phrase to break the news to each other would be: "Meet me at Fricker's."
Fricker's is a casual family restaurant and sports bar chain that was founded in Dayton, Ohio, with most locations featuring a game room and jukebox.
While at Meijer on Executive Boulevard in Huber Heights, a suburb of Dayton, Kimberlin decided to buy four $10 "$1,000,000 Black Titanium" scratch-off tickets for a total of $40. She was shellshocked when one of the tickets turned out to be a winner for the game's top prize of $1 million.
Using their agreed-upon code phrase was out of the question. She was so enraptured with the experience of winning that she called her husband and could barely speak. Brian thought something was wrong.
"I just scratched a million dollars!" she finally blurted out.
Brian was sure that his wife manifested the win, recalling her telling him, "I want to win for YOU." She would remind him, "I don't need to be rich, I just want to pay off the house and take pressure off" him since he puts in long hours at work, she told the Ohio Lottery.
Having beaten the odds in her favor and won a $1 million top prize, she told herself, "You did it, girl!"
A few days after her win, Kimberlin and Brian visited the Lottery to claim the prize together, which they received as a lump sum payment rather than the annuity. After federal and state taxes, they took home $366,625.
"Everything is more fun," Kimberlin said ever since the win.
The couple just so happened to be looking at houses on the market the day before Kimberlin's fateful win. Now, that "Lottery Dream House" with extra space for their family is looking less like a dream and more like a reality.
Kimberlin's lucky streak was already on a roll before winning the lottery. She had won $10,000 playing penny slots at their local casino, the Lottery said in a press release.
The couple did go to Fricker's to celebrate later that night.
As of now, three more top prizes of $40,000 a year for 25 years or $1 million remain in the $10 "$1,000,000 Black Titanium" scratch-off game. There are also 28 second-tier prizes of $20,000 and 12 third-tier prizes of $10,000 left to win.
The overall odds of winning any prize in the game are 1 in 3.54.
Beautiful story! They have good heads on their shoulders paying off the house. Much better than the measly tax write off from the IRS.
Penny slots sound cheap, but they can be expensive to play. We go once week and that's all we play. Months ago a guy on a penny slot was playing 10 cents @ $12.50/hit. I screamed when he got the bonus feature and Mega jackpot came up==$138K!
This is so heartwarming and funny, lol.
I wonder if she said,"Meet me at Fricker's during her first phone call to him if he would have automatically assumed that she was joking! 
Congratulations on their roughly $366,000 take home winnings, hope they remember to pay taxes on the take home winnings as well.
366K take home from a One million dollar prize? I think the lottery is benefitting more than the players!! Really unfair the player is absorbing all the risk and the facilitators collect free money.
The front of the ticket says Win up to $1,000,000*. Notice the asterisk? Their website says $40K/YR FOR 25 YRS and I would hope it says the same thing on the ticket. Does it show what the cash option amount is? It doesn't on the website.
Are they advertising $1,000,000* because it looks like a bigger prize and it attracts more in sales? Are they hoping to fool some people who aren't paying attention?
Our $10 tickets are advertised as up to $250,000 and $200,000. It seems more honest without trying to make the prize bigger than it really is.
And when the lotteries advertise, "We've paid out over x number of dollars to winners", you can bet they only use the annuity numbers in their addition.
I xame here to say that.how in the world they got less than half .no way taxes at that yo unless he owes irs already
This is awesome. I am going to make a code word to tell my wife as well lol!
Also what a hot streak winning slots right before winning a massive scratcher!!
I want to win for St. Judes. I'm going to manifest the Powerball tonight.
The Cash Option has a cash value of $500,000 before taxes.
Federal Withholding (24%): $120,000
Ohio State Withholding (2.75%): $13,750
Actual Net Take-Home Check: $366,250 (The reported $366,625 might not be quite right.)
If you want the million, you have to take the annuity of $40,000 a year for 25 years. You'll still have to pay taxes.
Know before you play.
IDK about Ohio, and has been forever since I hit a slot jackpot on $5K We'd play in Indiana as KY didn't have gaming facilities. They would automatically take IN's 3.4% which you'd get every penny back when filing. The law has changed to anything over $2K is federally taxed (vs old $1200). Two Congressfolks pre covid wanted it increased to $5K, but the IRS just went up $800 effective this past January. Anyway if I'm correct, and who knows (?) if you hit for over $10K Federal withholding is automatic.