Brought to you by WBIW News and Network Indiana
Last updated on Friday, February 10, 2012
(CLINTON) - A western Indiana man who threw out a $50,000 lottery ticket he thought was worthless is lucky he hadn’t taken out his trash, Hoosier Lottery officials said.
Spokesman Al Larsen said Ernest Scott III, of Clinton, realized Feb. 3 that the Lucky 5 ticket he'd thrown away the day before had in fact matched the numbers chosen in the Feb. 2 drawing.
"I don't know what I did or what I looked at, but for some reason, I thought it was no good, and I threw it away," Scott said in a release from the lottery.
Scott and his family scrambled to the kitchen trash can in their Clinton home and scoured it for the tossed ticket.
They found the ticket soggy and stained beneath coffee grounds but dried it out.
"When I looked at the ticket covered in coffee, I couldn't help but tease Ernie," said Brian Morris, the lottery's security investigator. "I told him to find a better coaster."
Scott and his wife Kathy turned in their ticket Tuesday at Hoosier Lottery headquarters in Indianapolis.
The couple is considering using their winnings to build a garage and take their four kids to Florida.
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