Kentucky man tries out a new scratch-off game and walks away with plans to be debt free

A Kentucky man will purchase his new home debt free after winning $50,000 from a recently launched Kentucky Lottery scratch-off game.

Johathan Bailey, a sanitation worker from Mt. Sterling, is in the process of purchasing a new home. He used some money from an insurance payment to snag a few lottery tickets at the PKE in Jeffersonville recently.

“I bought the newer $20 tickets,” Bailey told Kentucky Lottery officials, according to a Wednesday release. “I won $500; I bought two of them.”

While collecting his winnings, the store clerk told him about a new scratch-off game, available for the first time that day.

“He told me, ‘You should have bought this new ticket,’” Bailey said.

Millionaire Club, which costs $50 per ticket, recently launched and tasks players with matching their scratch-off numbers to the winning ones. The game includes several multipliers, and has four remaining top prizes of $1 million. Winnings start at $75.

The odds of any win on Millionaire Club are 1 in 2.98, according to the state lottery, though most prizes range from $75 to $200.

After work, Bailey returned to the PKE to try his hand at the new game, he told lottery officials.

He was thrilled to find his last ticket was a $50,000 winner, though initially he thought it was a smaller, $10,000 prize.

“I got to that first 500x [multiplier], and my heart dropped right there,” the winner told lottery officials. “It’s just one of those feelings you may never get back. I was super excited.”

According to the release, Bailey plans to use his winnings for a “fresh start.”

“That makes my new home start off right, keeps me out of debt from everything,” Bailey said in the release. “That’s going to be awesome, this one just took the cake.”

After taxes, the Mt. Sterling man collected a check for $35,750. He told Kentucky Lottery officials he will use the money to pay off his new home, along with his truck.

The PKE in Jeffersonville will get $500 for selling the ticket.

If you or someone you know has a problem gambling, help is available at 1-800-522-4700.

Do you have a question about the lottery in Kentucky for our service journalism team? We’d like to hear from you. Fill out our Know Your Kentucky form or email ask@herald-leader.com.