Sunday's Internet Edition, July 20, 2008.
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After Angela Haney and her grandfather, Hugh Kilgore, counted the words on the one Crossword ticket she had purchased, both were convinced that she had won $5,000, only to learn at the Texas Lottery® Austin Claim Center that her prize was really a whopping $35,000.
“We must have counted the words on the ticket 20 times,” she said.
“That’s the kind of surprise everybody wants to get,” Texas Lottery Commission Executive Director Reagan E. Greer said. “And all it took to win that exciting prize was one ticket. It’s what we always tell our players—that it only takes one ticket to win. You don’t have to go overboard buying tickets. We urge all our players to play responsibly.”
Haney bought the ticket at the Lexington Food Mart, otherwise known as “Wag-a-Bag”, located at the northwest corner of 5th Street and Highway 77 in Lexington.
She told the Leader that she was still thinking about what to do with the money, but she felt she might buy a new automobile. “For the time being,” she said, “I’m just going to put it in the bank.”
“I’m still trying to grasp that it was $35,000, and not $5,000,” she said. “When they told me the prize was $35,000, my face got hot. Right now my mind is scattered, I’m too excited.”
Haney bought the ticket on Tuesday. The first person she told was her grandmother, who also kept counting and re-counting the words on the ticket.
A player must scratch off at least three words to win a prize.
Her grandfather stashed the ticket for her in a secret drawer inside a piece of furniture.
While at the Austin Claim Center, her grandfather also had a smaller, but worthy winning experience, too. He won $50 with Holiday Gold, a scratch ticket he bought from an instant ticket vending machine in the lobby.
Haney moved to Lexington when she was twelve years old and lived with her grandparents. She attended Lexington High School and is currently a stay-at-home mom, taking care of her three children: Chastity, 5, Landon, 1, and Zander, 3 months.