Christmas gift from Ellsworth man leads to $25,000 top lottery prize
Jessica Neeland with her Lottery check.
Special to the I-R
Every year for Christmas, Jessica Neeland receives a variety of Kansas Lottery instant scratch tickets from her grandfather Larry Pacey. This year, one of the instant tickets she received was a $5 20X The Cash ticket. After scratching the ticket, the 27-year-old Radium resident was shocked to discover she had won a $25,000 top prize playing the game!
"For as long as I can remember, my grandpa has bought lottery tickets for everyone at Christmas," said Neeland. "It's something my family looks forward to and enjoys every year. It's always been one of my favorite things about Christmas."
Before scratching her tickets this year, Neeland said she and her husband Robert were joking about winning and what they would do with their winnings if they did win, never expecting it to actually come true moments later.
"We were laughing and joking about winning," said Neeland. "I never expected to win. When I started scratching my ticket, I knew right away I had won $2,000. As I continued scratching the ticket, I kept winning more and more. By the time I was finished playing the game, I had won $25,000. I was screaming, freaking out and going crazy."
After settling down from the excitement of winning a large prize, Neeland signed the back of her winning ticket and put it in her home safe until she was able to make the trip to Lottery headquarters in Topeka to claim her prize.
"This is the first time anyone in our family has won a big prize," said Neeland. "The whole experience has been so much fun and exciting. I'm going to share half of the prize with my grandpa and with my share, I'd like to do some home remodeling."
The winning ticket was purchased at Kwik Shop 763, located at 510 N. Douglas in Ellsworth. There are four $25,000 top prizes remaining in the $5 20X The Cash game as well as thousands of other cash prizes.
