Karie Lowe (785) 296-5744, [email protected]
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DATE: January 5, 2012 CONTACT: Karie Lowe (785) 296-5744, [email protected] Park City Man Knows How to Ring in the New Year TOPEKA, KAN. – A 23-year-old Park City resident is starting 2012 on a winning note. On New Year’s Eve day, Shawn Williams purchased three $5 Super Red Hot Crossword instant scratch tickets, scoring a $50,000 prize on the very first ticket he scratched! “On Saturday, my mom Debbie Williams and I were at Snacks convenience store. Mom was playing KENO,” explained Williams. “So I decided to buy three Crossword tickets, and played the tickets at the store. I won on the very first ticket that I scratched!” Williams, who is employed by the City of Valley Center, was told by his mother that after he realized he had won a top prize playing the game, he turned “ghost white.” “I had a store clerk win-check the ticket, and the terminal displayed ‘claim at lottery’,” Williams said. “So on mom’s advice, I signed the back of the ticket. I kept it locked in a lock box over the weekend. Even though I counted the words several times, I wasn’t really sure if I won the $50,000 prize before it was confirmed here (at Kansas Lottery headquarters).” Williams joked that when reality set in he would probably “lose it” on the way home. When asked about plans for his winnings, Williams said he first offered to pay off his mother’s house, an offer she declined. Instead, he plans to become debt free by paying off student loans and a car loan, and using the remainder as a down payment for a house. Williams plans to continue purchasing Kansas Lottery tickets every so often. “I enjoy the way that the Kansas Lottery promotes their products,” Williams remarked. “They make playing fun.” The winning ticket was purchased at Snacks located at 6209 North Broadway in Wichita. DATE: January 5, 2012 CONTACT: Karie Lowe (785) 296-5744, [email protected] Kansas Lottery Celebrates 25th Anniversary with First-Ever Game Book TOPEKA, KAN. – In celebration of its 25th anniversary, the Kansas Lottery is launching its first-ever game book. The new 25th Anniversary Game Book is the perfect entertainment for puzzle enthusiasts. The $20 game offers players a chance to play nine of the most popular puzzle games, all in one book! Players can also win up to $100,000 instantly! The game book will be available to retailers statewide this week. The six-page 25th Anniversary Game Book includes the following nine games: Big Bonus Crossword, Blackout Bingo, Lucky Lines, Bubble Bucks, Winning Combination, Pyramids, Wild Star Crossword, Keno, and Bookworm. In order to claim a prize, the complete 25th Anniversary Game Book must be presented for validation. If pages are separated, the entire game book will be voided. Beginning with the first-ever game book, the Kansas Lottery is also introducing its new keyless validation barcode. The keyless validation barcode will allow players to check their instant scratch tickets themselves on a Kansas Lottery Check-A-Ticket. The keyless validation barcode on the 25th Anniversary Game Book will be located on page six, under the latex in the play area of the Bookworm game. For more information on the 25th Anniversary Game Book or the keyless validation barcode, visit www.kslottery.com. DATE: January 6, 2012 CONTACT: Karie Lowe (785) 296-5744, [email protected] Olathe Residents Wake Up to $10,000 Surprise! TOPEKA, KAN. – Thursday morning, Randy and Robin Allenbrand received quite a surprise after checking their $2 Hot Lotto ticket on the Kansas Lottery’s website. In fact, it was a surprise worth $10,000! The Olathe residents matched the first five numbers in the January 4 Hot Lotto drawing, winning a $10,000 cash prize. The winning numbers were: 03-05-10-22-29 Hot Ball 01. The Allenbrand’s winning numbers were: 03-05-10- 22-29 Hot Ball 12. “My husband has been playing Hot Lotto every Wednesday and Saturday since the game began,” said Robin. “And, he always buys his tickets at the same store. The morning after a drawing, he always checks his tickets on the Internet. Yesterday, he had checked his tickets on the Internet and afterwards, asked if I would look up something on the Internet, too. I asked why and that’s when he told me he thought he had won $10,000 on Hot Lotto.” After confirming they had matched all five numbers, the Allenbrands discussed who was going to claim the prize at Lottery headquarters in Topeka. “Randy asked me to take off work to claim the prize, so I said sure!” said Robin. When claiming the prize, Robin discovered her husband had actually picked his own numbers on the winning ticket. “I just found out he picked the winning numbers using his birthdate, his mom’s birthdate, and his old high school football number,” Robin said laughing. “I can’t believe he picked his high school football number. It must be a lucky number after all.” The Allenbrands, who have two children in college, plan to pay bills with their winnings. “The next time we win, we’ll do something fun,” said Robin. The winning ticket was purchased at Zarco 66, located at 397 S. Parker in Olathe. For more information on games, promotions, winning numbers, and unclaimed prizes, or to join the free Kansas Lottery Players Club, visit www.kslottery.com. DATE: January 6, 2012 CONTACT: Karie Lowe (785) 296-5744, [email protected] Extra Tips Leads Scott City Resident to $20,000 “Bonus” TOPEKA, KAN. – After earning a few extra dollars in tips on Tuesday, Jan Green of Scott City decided to splurge and buy five $2 Bonus Crossword instant scratch tickets. Green, who is a waitress at a local restaurant, revealed all 10 words on the last ticket she scratched, winning a $20,000 top prize! “I’m a Crossword fanatic,” said Green. “I buy two tickets every day. Since I earned a little extra tip money, I decided to buy five tickets instead of two. I can’t believe I won $20,000 on the fifth ticket!” Although Green is an avid Bonus Crossword player, she had a hard time believing she had actually won a top prize. “Even though I buy tickets every day it was still hard to believe what I had won,” said Green. “Since I was only 99.9 percent sure I had won $20,000, I went back to the store where I purchased my tickets to have the store manager verify my win.” When Green returned to the store, the manager had left for the day, so she went back home without having her ticket verified. “When my husband came home, I showed him the ticket and asked him to count the words to make sure I hadn’t made a mistake,” said Green. “When he counted 10 words, I was still only 99.9 percent sure I had won $20,000.” The next morning, Green stopped at the convenience store where she purchased her tickets and this time, the manager was on duty. “When she scanned my ticket, the machine read, ‘Claim at Lottery,’ so I knew I must have won $20,000,” said Green. “I still hated to get my hopes up.” After traveling to the Kansas Lottery’s Great Bend office yesterday, Green was finally convinced she had won $20,000 when Lottery officials verified her win. “This is so exciting,” said Green. “Since Scott City is such a small town, I’m sure everyone knows I’ve won. I’m just glad it’s true!” Green and her husband Howard, who have been married 27 years, have three children and one grandson. They plan to pay bills with their winnings. The winning ticket was purchased at Presto 1600, located at 1310 S. Main in Scott City. For more information on games, promotions, winning numbers, and unclaimed prizes, or to join the free Kansas Lottery Players Club, visit www.kslottery.com. DATE: January 10, 2012 CONTACT: Karie Lowe (785) 296-5744, [email protected] Wichita Resident Claims $10,000 Cash Prize from October Early Bird Drawing TOPEKA, KAN. – After purchasing his Holiday Millionaire Raffle tickets on October 21, 2011, Thomas Pottorff placed them in the console of his truck and that’s where they remained until New Year’s Day. After checking his tickets, the Wichita resident was surprised to find out one of the tickets he was holding was worth $10,000! “On October 21, which happens to be my daughter’s birthday, I bought four raffle tickets not realizing there were Early Bird drawings,” said Pottorff. “I put the tickets in my console and didn’t give them a second thought until New Year’s Day.” This year, the Lottery offered players a chance to win $10,000 in Holiday Millionaire Raffle Early Bird drawings during the first five weeks of raffle sales. Since Pottorff purchased his raffle ticket Oct. 21, his tickets were eligible for the Oct. 30 and Nov. 6 Early Bird drawings, and the grand prize drawing Dec. 30. “My wife Sheila and I have been vacationing in South Padre Island, Texas for a few weeks,” said Pottorff. “We knew the big raffle drawing was Dec. 30 and planned to check our tickets when we returned. We were pretty surprised to find we had won $10,000 in the Oct. 30 Early Bird drawing.” The winning raffle numbers drawn in the Oct. 30 Early Bird drawing were 022110 and 063816.