Texas Resident Home for the Holidays receives Gift worth $10,000!

A Texas resident home for the holidays received a gift worth $10,000 from his sister on Christmas day.  Steven Shannon received $10 worth of a variety of Kansas Lottery instant scratch tickets during a white elephant gift exchange and won a $10,000 top prize playing the $2 Winter Fun game!

"Every year my family does a white elephant gift exchange," explained Shannon. "Anyone who wants to participate buys $10 worth of any Kansas Lottery instant tickets or pull tabs and wraps them in a box so you can't tell what tickets are inside.  Before the exchange, we pile the boxes on the table and everyone draws a number to see who goes first.  No one can scratch their tickets until the end because we can steal someone's tickets if we want to.  When that happens, the person who had their tickets taken from them can steal from someone else or pick a new box.  Luckily, no one wanted my tickets."

Once the gift exchange was over, everyone scratched their tickets.  You can imagine Shannon's surprise when he discovered he had won a $10,000 top prize.

"I thought someone had put a fake winning ticket in the group of tickets I had," said Shannon. "I asked everyone who had bought the tickets I scratched because I thought I had won $10,000.  Come to find out it was my sister.  She assured me it wasn't a joke."

According to Shannon, winning $10,000 caused a big stir within the 21 family members who participated in the white elephant gift exchange.

"The entire family was excited and happy for me," said Shannon.  "I signed the back of the ticket and went to the store where my sister bought it.  When the clerk scanned the ticket and said I had to claim my prize at the Lottery, I was convinced my ticket was real.  What a great Christmas present!"

Shannon graduated from the University of Houston December 21, with a degree in Music Education.  He is home visiting his parents, who live in Ellis.  He plans to purchase a newer vehicle with his winnings and do something special for his sister since she purchased the winning ticket.

The winning ticket was purchased at Casey's General Store 1930, located at 213 Washington St. in Ellis.