Marshall County couple arrived at the Kansas Lottery headquarters in Topeka Thursday to claim their Lucky for Life top prize of $1,000 a day for life! The winners, who chose to remain anonymous, matched all five numbers and the Lucky Ball on a Quick Pick ticket in Monday’s Lucky for Life drawing.
“For ten years now, we’ve bought tickets twice a week for the draw games,” said the winners. “For some games we pick our own numbers, and on other games we just do Quick Picks. We’re glad we did a Quick Pick this time for sure!”
The winning numbers were drawn on Monday night, but the couple didn’t check their tickets until Wednesday, even though they knew that someone had won the big prize.
“I got a push notification on my phone that the Lucky for Life top prize was hit in Kansas, but I didn’t check it against my numbers. I just went to work,” said the winner. “We keep all of our tickets on a clip next to the refrigerator, and we check them once or twice a week.”
“When we finally remembered to check the tickets, I saw that Lucky for Life ticket and figured out that we were the winner. I showed my wife, and then she made me check it one more time. We couldn’t believe it at first,” said the winner. “It still hasn’t fully sunk in yet. It truly is a life-changing thing, and we just had it clipped next to the fridge for a couple days,” the winners said with a laugh.
The couple opted to take the cash option instead of the annuity prize, which is $5.75 million dollars before taxes. The prize is large enough for both of them to consider retiring early and quitting their jobs.
“We’re both close enough to retirement that this win will make it possible for us to retire early,” the winner said. “Now we just have to figure out what we’re going to do with our spare time!”
The couple say they plan to use their newfound free time and money to get back into old hobbies and to take a few trips they’ve been putting off.
“We don’t really know what the future holds for us,” the winners said. “But we’ve got a lot to think about, and plenty of options. It’s a great problem to have!”
The winning ticket was sold at CJ Express 1 at 1202 11th Road in Marysville.
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ORIGINAL: It’s the ticket of a lifetime, and officials are excited to see who will come forward to claim it.
According to the Kansas Lottery, one Lucky for Life ticket sold in northeast Kansas matched all numbers in the June 25 drawing to win the grand prize of $1,000 a Day for Life.
This is the first $1,000 a Day for Life grand prize a Kansas Lottery player has won since Kansas joined the Lucky for Life game in November 2016. The ticket was sold in northeast Kansas The winning number sare :
3-31-42-45-48 Lucky Ball 17
Whoever claims the winning ticket will have 60 days from the claim date to choose how he or she wants to be paid. Here are the options:
Annuity: If choosing the annuity prize, the winner can either receive payments of $7,000 a week or $365,000 a year, minus taxes. The payments would continue for the winner’s natural life (minimum of 20 years).
Cash: If the winner chooses to receive a one-time cash payment, the prize would be $5.75 million, minus taxes. After federal taxes of 25% and state taxes of 5% are withheld, the winner would receive a one-time payment of $4.025 million.
Lucky for Life drawings are conducted every Monday and Thursday. Players have until 7:59 p.m. on draw days to purchase tickets. Players pick five numbers from 1 to 48 and one Lucky Ball number from 1 to 18. If they wish, players can let the computer pick their numbers (Quick Pick). Plays cost $2 each.
In addition to the grand prize, there are nine other prizes available in Lucky for Life, including a prize that pays $25,000 a Year for Life. Two Kansans, Darryl Hestand of Olathe and Arden Unruh of Haysville, both won $25,000 a Year for Life in 2017.
Players are invited to submit all their winning and non-winning tickets in the Kansas Lottery PlayOn® Players Loyalty program to earn points for drawing entries and a chance to win cash and other prizes!
