Friday nights playing the Kentucky Lottery just got a lot more exciting for two Bowling Green sisters who recently won $50,000 on a $3 Super 7’s Scratch-off ticket.
Virginia Lawrence and her sister, Sue Bryant, have a tradition of stopping at their favorite Kentucky Lottery retailer – IGA Express at Duntov Way in Bowling Green – to purchase their games.
It was there that store employees affectionately dubbed the pair the ‘Crazy Lotto Sisters,’ confidently predicting their future success: “Y’all are going to win big one day, ladies,” according to the two siblings.
“We’ve been wanting a big win for a while,” said Virginia, who is retiring soon. “Every Friday night, we play together. We’ve never bought tickets more than $5. One time we hit $500 on a $2 ticket and kept playing on those winnings.”
The winning night was anything but ordinary. “I told my sister I wasn’t going to scratch that night. I’d worked all day and was tired. But she convinced me. We picked four of each ticket, grabbed our lucky nickels from our birth years, and got to scratching,” Virginia said.
The excitement quickly turned to disbelief. “I scratched the ticket and saw $6,000, then $6,000 again, then $4,000, then $6,000,” Virginia said. “Sis, we won the big prize!”
They had won on every spot on the ticket, winning the game’s $50,000 top prize.
Tears flowed, and Virginia called her husband, and Sue called her son to share the news. Out of concern, Sue’s son told her, “Mama, don’t call me crying anymore.”
For the most part, the sisters kept the news quiet at first, sharing it only with close family and their neighbor. “I’ll tell everybody after I get the big check,” Virginia laughed.
After taxes, they each received a check for $18,125.
Sue told lottery officials she plans to put her winnings toward home improvements – a well-deserved reward after years of budgeting their lottery weekly spend and sticking to $5 tickets or less. “We have a limit. It’s just for fun,” they said.
As for Virginia, with retirement right around the corner and a cushion to fall back on, she said they are ready for new adventures, and more Friday night Kentucky Lottery tradition.
IGA Express received $500 for selling the winning ticket.
