Kentucky man switches up his scratch-off ticket routine and it pays off big time

Jackie Starkey
·2 min read
2

A Lexington man was stopped cold recently with a $100,000 lottery win after switching up his usual scratch-off ticket routine.

Charles Hanley of Lexington purchased his $30 Break Fort Know scratch-off ticket from the Kroger on Leestown Road. The game tasks players with matching their ticket numbers to the winning ones, with a top prize of $2.244 million.

Hanley told Kentucky Lottery officials he typically doesn’t like to look at the prizes until he’s scratched off the whole ticket, but decided to switch it up this time after matching a 53 in the second row. When he scratched off the prize amount he was surprised by a $100,000 win.

“I don’t ever do that,” Hanley told the lottery, according to a Tuesday release. “It stopped me cold… I was like, ‘Oh my god, this isn’t right.’”

This Break Fort Know scratch-off ticket proved to be a winner recently for the Lexington man playing the Kentucky Lottery.
This Break Fort Know scratch-off ticket proved to be a winner recently for the Lexington man playing the Kentucky Lottery.

Shocked, he said he checked the ticket multiple times and ran it by others.

“I scratched it and I about had a heart attack. I checked it about four times and called my brother over to come look at it,” he said.

The overall odds of winning any prize on Break Fort Know are 1 in 2.48, the Kentucky Lottery reports, though most winnings range between $30 and $100.

Then he texted his wife.

“We had taken his car in that morning for some work, and I figured he was calling with bad news about the car,” his wife told lottery officials.

Instead, he was sharing news of the $100,000 win, though she wasn’t convinced at first.

At Kentucky Lottery headquarters in Louisville, Hanley collected a check for $71,500 after taxes. As they are renovating their kitchen, the couple told state lottery officials they will likely put the money toward their home.

The Kroger on Leestown Road will get a $1,000 bonus for selling the scratch off.

If you or someone you know has a problem gambling, help is available at 1-800-522-4700.

Do you have a question about the lottery in Kentucky for our service journalism team? We’d like to hear from you. Fill out our Know Your Kentucky form or email ask@herald-leader.com.