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A Winchester man was in disbelief after securing a $77,777 win on a $5 Kentucky Lottery 777 Scratch-off ticket.
Joseph Lavelle was on his lunch break at work when he decided to stop in at Go Time 4 in Winchester last month. He needed to cash in a previous win and decided to use his winnings to purchase three 777 Scratch-off tickets.
Lavelle said he walked out of the store and began scratching the three tickets in his car. Upon scratching the first ticket, he initially thought he won $777 but the ticket soon revealed he was in for a major payday. He had uncovered seven “7” symbols on his ticket to win the game’s top prize.
“I sat in the car for 15 minutes just staring at it,” Lavelle said. “I was like, ‘Did I really just win this?’”
Lavelle said he soon returned to work and told his coworkers about the big win.
“I went back to work, and I had a smile on my face that everybody could see,” he said. “I told them, ‘I won the grand prize and I have to go home now!’”
Lavelle did just that and asked his wife, Kimberly, an unexpected question, “What would you do if I could give you $25,000 on Monday?”
Kimberly said she was in disbelief over the win and the couple said they will use some of the winnings to pay off bills.
“We’re going to walk away from this debt free,” Lavelle said.
In addition to paying bills, Lavelle said a portion of it will be used to plan a vacation back to his hometown of New York City.
The couple walked away with a check for $55,999.44 after taxes. Go Time 4 received $777.77 for selling the winning ticket.
