Katrina Thornton of Festus won a $384,000 Missouri Lottery Show Me Cash jackpot in the Aug. 23 drawing. The ticket came from a man who gave Thornton one of the tickets he purchased at the store where she worked, the Missouri Lottery reported.
“It was actually a gift from a customer,” said Thornton, who works at Stockham’s Gas Mart, 11845 Hwy. CC, in Festus, where the winning ticket was purchased. "He came in on his usual route and grabbed two tickets. He just gave me one and said, ‘Have a good night.’”
Thornton, a new employee at Stockham’s Gas Mart, said that particular customer is known for buying an extra ticket and gifting it to the clerk who sold him his tickets. The following morning, Thornton’s boss realized that their location sold a winning Show Me Cash ticket for $384,000.
“It was a whole ordeal,” Thornton said. “I didn’t even know about it and went to work leaving the ticket at my house. My boss came up and asked if I had happened to get one. So I called my mom and had her look at the numbers. I think my boss was more excited than I was at first. I was in shock. I was definitely not expecting it.”
Thornton said she plans to use some of the money on a down payment for her first home. She said she also will set some aside for a college fund for her son and save the rest.
“Everyone keeps asking if I’m going to take a trip, but I just don’t have time for that right now,” Thornton said.