A Louisville man has retired after discovering he won $100,000 on a Kentucky Lottery Powerball ticket.
James Keown worked as a school bus driver for Jefferson County Public Schools for 11 years.
“I called my boss on Sunday, and I told him, ‘I hit the lottery and I’m not coming back.’… I loved my job, but I’d been thinking about retiring for a while.”
Keown purchased the winning Powerball ticket from Circle K on Galene Drive in Louisville for the August 19 drawing. The lucky ticket matched four white ball numbers and the Powerball to win the game’s $50,000 prize. He chose to add the Power Play feature, multiplying his winnings by the Power Play number drawn (2).
The next morning, he checked the numbers on his phone when he saw all but one number matched.
“I looked at it four times… that number’s got to change, but it didn’t,” Keown said jokingly.
“I thought I better see what I won. The first time, I saw I won $50,000 and then I thought, wait a minute I play the multiplier all the time, so I went back, and the multiplier was 2,” Keown said.
Keown was excited to share the news with his wife, Monta
“We had just gotten off the phone and then he texted for me to call him as soon as I could. I panicked thinking something was wrong,” Monta told lottery officials. “He told me, ‘I just paid off my bills.’ I said, ‘You did what?’” ‘I just paid off my bills. I just won $100,000!’”
“I’m just over the moon and excited for him,” she said.
Keown and his wife claimed the prize the Monday following the Powerball drawing, when he walked away with a check for $71,500 after taxes.
The couple told lottery officials they have a weakness for disabled cats and plan to support their local kitten and cat rescue shelters. They also plan to use the winnings towards lake property.
Circle K will receive $1,000 for selling the winning ticket.