A McPherson man wins a $50,000 lottery prize.

According to the Kansas Lottery, Afton Gabriel had a great start to his week after purchasing a Kansas Lottery $5 Super Red Hot Crossword instant scratch ticket Monday morning. The 23-year-old McPherson resident revealed six red words on his ticket to win a $50,000 top prize.

“I’ve only lived in Kansas for about three months and this is only the third time I’ve ever bought a Crossword ticket,” said Gabriel. “At first I thought I had won $10, but when I had the ticket checked at a convenience store, the clerk pulled me aside and said I had won more than he could pay out. After he told me that, I assumed I must have won $1,000. I never expected it to be 50 times that!”

Still thinking he had won $1,000, Gabriel returned home to show his fiance Nichole Yianakopulls the winning ticket.

“I sped home to show Nichole the ticket,” the lucky winner said. “When I walked in the house, the first thing I said to her was, ‘Babe, we just won some serious money.’ I was so happy I was crying. We had Nichole’s dad take a look at the ticket and that’s when we realized I had won $50,000. I kept the ticket in my shoe until we were able to put it in a lock box the next day. This couldn’t have come at a better time. I recently lost my job and this money will allow me to pay off bills and get a fresh start.”

The lucky winner also plans to use a portion of his big win for his upcoming wedding later this year. The winning ticket was purchased at Shell Food Mart, located at 1201 E. 1st St. in McPherson.

After Gabriel’s win, two $50,000 top prizes remain in the Super Red Hot Crossword instant scratch game. In addition to winning cash prizes in the $5 game, Kansas Lottery Players Club members can enter their non-winning tickets for a chance to win a VIP racing weekend prize package to the October NASCAR races at Kansas Speedway in the Kansas Speedway online-only second-chance drawing.