Woman wins $72,437 with ‘Blizzard’ ticket, truck in her future

MADISON COUNTY, Ky. (WTVQ) – It was snowing dollar bills for a Berea woman, who wishes to remain anonymous, after she won $72,437 playing the Kentucky Lottery’s Blizzard Bingo Fast Play game.

She claimed the winning ticket earlier this week at lottery headquarters in Louisville.

She purchased the $3 Blizzard Bingo Fast Play ticket last week at Circle K #3255 on Richmond Road in Berea. She told lottery officials she discovered Fast Play a few weeks ago and was drawn to the game because she especially likes Bingo.

The Blizzard Bingo Fast Play game is played like traditional Bingo. Players match the call numbers to the numbers on their cards. On the player’s winning ticket, she matched all of the call numbers on card 2, making it a cover all win.

Fast Play is a series of games with instant cash prizes and a rolling jackpot, yet instead of waiting for a drawing to take place, players immediately know if they’ve won a prize.

The price point purchased determines how much of the jackpot is won.

In this case, she chose to buy the $3 ticket, winning 30% of the estimated jackpot amount printed on the ticket. The game’s current jackpot at the time the ticket was purchased was $241,458.

After the ticket printed from the terminal, she began marking off the call numbers she had matched.

“I matched all the numbers and figured I’d won a couple hundred dollars,” she said.

Not knowing for sure, she had the ticket scanned by the store clerk. The message they received was the prize was for more than the store could pay out and to contact the lottery.

She proceeded to take the ticket to three other stores only to be told the same thing.

It was at the last store that a customer suggested she scan it on the self-ticket checker.

She stuck it under the scanner when she discovered she had won $72,437.

“Oh my gosh, I’m telling you, I was about to go backwards.  I thought I was going to faint,” she told officials.  “I’ve never won anything like that.”

After taxes, the Madison County woman received a check for $51,430.  Circle K will receive a bonus for $724 for selling the winning ticket.

She has always wanted a truck and plans to purchase one with her winnings.  The remainder will go into savings she told officials.