News writer
Back in November 2023, a couple from Bowling Green, Kentucky realized that they had won a $50,000 Powerball prize. You’d think that they would be ecstatic but they were not because they couldn’t find their winning lottery ticket.
When Mark Perdue and his wife walked into the AM Express, located at 677 Three Springs Rd, Bowling Green – the store where they usually buy their lottery tickets – the owner congratulated them on their win.
“I said, ‘for what?’” Mark explained in an interview with the Kentucky Lottery. “And she said, ‘You won the lottery.’ I said, ‘I wish.’ She said, ‘You did, I have you on video.’”
Back at home, Mark and his wife searched frantically for the ticket but were unable to find it. They eventually concluded that it must have been thrown away.
“I’ve been beating myself up for three months thinking I threw this ticket away,” Mark’s wife said.
Then, last month, Mark, who is the president of Kiriu USA, went to check out the condition of a company car. The vehicle isn’t used often but was needed by a visitor from another plant. When he looked inside the car, he had a wonderful surprise. The winning lottery ticket was right there.
“I don’t know how long it might have sat out there if I hadn’t needed the car,” Mark said. “I was shaking a little bit.”
He shared the great news with his wife and the next day they traveled to the lottery headquarters and collected $36,000 after tax withholdings. The couple said they plan to pay off their bills and take a trip.
Check your Powerball tickets Kentucky players
You may be holding on to a winning ticket and don’t realize it. Another winning Kentucky Powerball ticket remains unclaimed. It sold on July 19, 2023, at the Pilot Travel Center located at 205 Pendleton Road in Pendleton. The winning numbers for the July 19 drawing are 7, 10, 11, 13, 24, and Powerball number 24. The ticket won a second-tier prize of $1 million. The winner has until July 19, 2024, to claim the prize.
If the ticket is not claimed, the prize money will be given to the Kentucky Educational Excellence Scholarship through the Unclaimed Prize Fund.
In a press release, Kentucky Lottery President Mary Harville said, “It's rare that someone holding a $1 million Powerball ticket fails to cash it in. The lottery is not giving up hope that we will find the owner and award them their prize.”
How the lottery helps Kentucky
Since its launch in 1989, the Kentucky Lottery has donated more than $4.8 billion to public education throughout the state. These funds have enabled one out of five Kentucky residents to receive scholarships and grants. A total of 949,546 students have received educational scholarships and 3.05 million scholarships have been awarded.
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