Lottery News

A Washington Army veteran got the chance to win a $5.4 million lotto prize by taking a short break from his everyday routine.

Having served the army for almost 29 years, 59-year-old Kenneth C. of Spokane, changed his routine after transitioning to civilian life. On most days, after finishing off his work, he would stop by a store, buy whatever is needed, and pick a few lottery tickets while he's busy at all of it.

Kenneth would always have a playslip handy and ready to be filled with his own numbers for Washington Lottery's Hit 5 and Lotto draw games. But his usual routine saw a sudden change on August 11, when he couldn't find his playslip.

So the veteran went to the store again and as he did not want to hold a line of customers, just asked the clerk for a Quick Pick on Hit 5 and $5 Lotto. And after that, he did not give a thought about it and almost forgot about them.

Ken told the lottery that sometimes when he played before, he thought that would have won something but when he double-checked the numbers, they were either for the drawing for the day before or the day after. He said he had won $150 and $1000, maybe a few years ago, but never thought that he'd won a jackpot.

Ken, who always hoped to win something, checked the drawing results from every source possible and verified that the numbers on his ticket matched the ones drawn on August 11, but he still was not convinced that he could ever make it up to the jackpot. Even after scheduling his appointment with the Lottery claim center, he had set his expectations quite low so that he couldn't run himself into disappointment. The night before he was set to visit the claim center, Ken visited the gas station near his house and got his ticket scanned for the third time. Ken recalled, "I definitely held my breath when I scanned the ticket, but after seeing what it said on the screen, I took a few deep breaths, put the ticket back in the pocket, and walked home as calmly as possible."

It's clearly a lot for him, so Ken said he wants to have a nice dinner with his brothers and think about the future plans. Other than that, he wishes to use the millions to do some repairs at home.