Big wins for Missouri lottery players this week

Luck was in the air this week for lottery players in the Show Me State. Three lucky Missouri lottery players scooped up big prizes.

Doing a friend a favor turns into $5 million

A Missouri lottery player didn't mind giving his friend a helping hand with a project earlier this week.

“A buddy of mine had called me and asked if I could help him out with a job, and I said, 'Sure,'” the winner explained in an interview with the Missouri Lottery. “And so he asked if $50 would be fine for helping him, and I said that's fine.”

On the way home, he decided to pop into the Road Ranger located at 22345 Highway 28 in St. Robert to buy a Scratchers ticket. Using the money he had earned from his friend, he purchased a $50 500X ticket.

Earlier in the day, when he was working, his buddy had told him that he was going to retire and asked him if he was interested in buying the business.

When he saw that his 500X ticket was a $5 million winner, he knew exactly what he was going to do with that money. He said:

I called him back, and I said, 'I got the money! Your business is sold when you're ready!'

At first, his friend didn't believe him, but the winner convinced him that he'd made up his mind to make his winnings work for him.

This $50,000 winner plans to take an Alaskan vacation

An anonymous player from St. Louis won a $50,000 prize while playing a $1,000,000 Cash Payout instant-win game. He managed to keep his win a secret from his wife until later the same evening. When he told her, he tried to be casual about his good luck.

He told her:

Well, I won $50,000. Do you want to go to Alaska?

The winner purchased his winning ticket from the QuikTrip located at 702 Lemay Ferry Road, in St. Louis. $1,000,000 Cash Payout is a $10 instant-win game with a chance to win cash prizes up to $1 million. One jackpot prize and one $50,000 prize remain.

St. Peter's player won $1,000 a week for life

If you're a Missouri lottery player and you live in St. Charles County, check your lottery tickets. One lucky player is holding a ticket from the April 2 Cash4Life worth $1,000 a Week For Life. The winning ticket was purchased from Dierbergs, located at 217 Salt Lick Road in St. Peters. The ticket matched all five white-ball numbers drawn: 26, 27, 43, 50, and 56. It did not match the Cash Ball number, which was 3.

If you're the fortunate ticket holder, you can choose between claiming $52,000 a year for life, less tax withholdings, or a one-time lump sum payment of $1 million less tax withholdings. You can claim your prize by making an appointment to visit your nearest Missouri Lottery office. Winners have 180 days from the date of the drawing to claim their prize. Which, in this case, is until September 29, 2024.