Nov. 26 (UPI) — A Kentucky hunter passing the time in his deer stand by playing online lottery games said rejecting a call from his son led to his winning a $1.1 million jackpot.
The McCreary County man told Kentucky Lottery officials he was waiting for some deer to show up when he decided to pass the time with the lottery’s Wolf Ridge Jackpots online game.
“I’m in the deer stand, and I was sitting there and I thought, you know what, I’m going to try,” he said. “I got on there and I won $1,500, and I added another $200 to my account.”
The man said his game kept being interrupted by calls from family members.
“It was making me mad because it was freezing up my phone from playing,” he said. “Then my son tries to call, I decline it. And then it was the next thing I hit. The sound is kind of a rumbling sound, and I cannot play anymore. I’m like, ‘There ain’t no way,’ and that is echoing through the woods.”
The rumbling sound turned out to be the man scoring a $1.1 million prize on a $30 wager.
The winner called his wife and sent her a photo to confirm his win.
“I thought he was calling to tell me he had gotten a big buck,” his wife said.
The player said he was overwhelmed when his wife confirmed what he was seeing on his phone screen.
“I couldn’t believe it. We are both crying and stressing out,” he said. “I probably would have fallen out of the deer stand that drops down 30, 40 feet into a holler.”
The couple said their windfall will go toward buying a new home and sharing with their family.
“It’s pretty awesome,” the winner said. “I can tell you that right now. I mean, you go sit out in the woods and then all of a sudden you look down — and like I told her, I said, ‘It took me 50 years to become a millionaire all at once.'”
