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DATE: April 25, 2008
CONTACT: Karie Lowe (785) 296-5744, karie.lowe@kslottery.net

Corning Couple Celebrate Birthdays by Winning $5,000

TOPEKA, KAN. – Last night, Roger Adams and his wife Judy of Corning were visiting his mother-in-law in Seneca when the trio decided to try their luck playing instant scratch tickets. The ladies played $2 Bonus Crossword tickets and Roger tried his luck playing $1 Fun 1’s instant scratch tickets. They were all surprised when Roger won a $5,000 top prize on one of his tickets.

“My wife and mother-in-law like to play Crossword tickets,” said Adams. “I usually stick to $1 games. When we first started to play, we ended up winning a total of $4 on the tickets we bought. I went back to the store and cashed the winners in for the Fun 1’s. That’s when I won the $5,000.”

After realizing he won, Adams made another trip back to the store to have the ticket validated.

“I tried playing a trick on the owner,” said Adams. “I had a $1 winner that I handed him first. He validated that ticket with no problem. Then I handed him the $5,000 winner, but didn’t tell him I knew how much it was. When he scanned the ticket the lottery terminal said, ‘Claim at Lottery.’ The owner thought something was wrong with his machine since he had never validated a big winner before. When he realized how much my ticket was, he was very excited for me.”

Once the ticket was verified, Adams called his four children to share the good news.

“Yesterday was my wife’s birthday,” said Adams. “And Saturday is my birthday. What a great way to celebrate. Our kids were very happy for us.”

Adams, who works for Latta-Whitlow by Stryker in Topeka, also has seven grandchildren with another on the way.

The winning ticket was purchased at Pony Express Liquor, located at 603 North St. in Seneca.