An Abilene man wins a $25,000 lottery prize.

According to the Kansas Lottery, the first full week of January has been very exciting for Terry Kiser of Abilene. On Monday the 44-year-old celebrated his birthday. Friday he ended the week by claiming a $25,000 top prize playing the Kansas Lottery’s $5 Cash Machine instant scratch game!

“My dad gave me some birthday money, so I decided to buy a couple of lottery tickets,” said Kiser. “This morning, I bought two $10 tickets and ended up winning $30. I pocketed $20 and spent $10 on two of the Cash Machine tickets. Before leaving the store, I scratched the tickets and was surprised when I saw I had won $25,000.”

Winning a large Kansas Lottery prize seems to run in the family. One of Kiser’s close relatives, who wished to remain anonymous, has won a $20,000 top prize twice playing Bonus Crossword tickets.

“The first thing I did when I realized how much I had won was call my wife Beth at work,” said Kiser. “Of course she didn’t believe me, so I went down to the hospital where she works and showed her the ticket. Afterwards, I called the family member that has won the lottery twice and asked what I needed to do to claim my prize.”

Shortly after the call, Kiser made a trip to Lottery headquarters in Topeka to claim his prize.

“On the way here I kept thinking about how I would spend the money,” said Kiser. “I had it spent twice over by the time I arrived in Topeka, but most likely we’ll use the money to pay off a car loan.”

Kiser, who teaches EMT/Paramedic classes at Barton County Community College, has been married for 20 years. The Kisers have three children ages 13, 14 and 17.

The winning ticket was purchased at West Stop West, located at 1324 NW 3rd St. in Abilene.