Christopher Warncke, 30, of Festus recently won $50,000 in the Missouri Lottery’s $300 million Golden Ticket scratchers game.
Warncke bought the winning ticket on April 19 at Stockham’s Gas Mart, 11845 Hwy. CC, in the Festus area. He bought one ticket that wasn’t a winner and then decided to try again since he needed money for his daughter’s field trip, the Lottery reported.
He scratched off the ticket, which cost $30, at the store, uncovering the $50,000 prize, the report said.
“I thought there was no way; so they checked it and sure enough,” Warncke said, according to the lottery.
Warncke said he was not a regular player, that it was only the third $30 ticket he had tried, the report said.
The winnings will come in handy, Warncke reportedly said.
“I’m going to pay off some things I got and sit on the rest of it for a while,” he said. “Try not to spend it all at once.”
The $300 million Golden Ticket game began on Jan. 25 and offers a top prize of $10 million.