A Kansas man who won a $50,000 lottery prize had to rush back to the store when he realized his winning ticket had accidentally been thrown away.
Topeka resident Kevin Hayek plays Powerball every week, but he doesn't check his tickets that often. Last Wednesday, he was getting his morning coffee at a convenience store when the urge to finally check his Powerball tickets from the October 18 drawing struck him.
"The first ticket the store clerk scanned wasn't a winner, but when she scanned the next ticket, the machine just went crazy. Neither one of us had ever seen anything like it," said Hayek. "It printed out this long claim form, and the clerk gave it to me and I put it in my pocket and went to my job site."
It wasn't until he got to work that Hayek started reading the claim form with a co-worker, who noticed that Hayek was missing a very important document: the winning ticket.
"When I realized I didn't have the ticket, I hopped back into the truck and went back to the store. The clerk had accidentally thrown it away with the non-winning ticket," Hayek said.
Luckily, the ticket was still right there in the store.
When Hayek returned to work he checked his numbers online to figure out what the ticket was worth. That's when he discovered he had matched four of the first five Powerball numbers and the Powerball, which was a $50,000 winner.
Hayek says he plans to pay off some loans and give his motorcycle a "facelift." He's been with the Topeka School District in maintenance, plumbing, and heating work for 36 years.
"I've never won more than $2 or $4 before. I didn't believe I had won at first, but it's finally starting to sink in," Hayek added.
The winning ticket was sold at the Kwik Shop 789, located at 746 NE Wabash Avenue in Topeka.
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...now had Kevin bought his ticket in Connersville Indiana & was served by either Reagan Santana or Melinda Carol, this story would not have had a happy ending!
Glad he caught it in time.All's well that ends well .
What's the point in playing the lottery if you don't check your tickets that often like this dude? Also I would have made darn sure I had that Powerball ticket in hand before leaving the store. Fortunetly things worked out despite his cavalier attitude towards playing. Congrats!
I don't understand it either. I also always check my tickets at home. You can never be too careful these days.
Noticed that someone from Fresno, is going to be walking around with K37 soon, after bagging 2nd prize in last night's Superlotto plus jackpot Music. Hope it's you big guy!
Apparently a lot of people don't check their tickets. You always see the lotteries putting up notices about tickets about to expire because they were not claimed.
Do these people play just to play or are they playing to win?
SMH
Massachusetts State Lottery just posted on FB that a $100K ticket is set to expire next January 18th. It even included pictures of where the ticket was sold trying to jog someone's memory. Always check your tickets!