Sometimes the best stories start with a bathroom break. For one Alabama family, a summer road trip pit stop in Kentucky became the moment their luck changed forever.
Theresa and James Stuckey of Enterprise, Ala. were making a trip to Kentucky to pick up their son after he spent the summer with family in Ohio. The Bowling Green area is their typical exchange point since it’s about halfway for both.
“Before heading back home, we stopped at a busy convenience store to eat and then left,” Theresa said. “We were on the road for maybe five minutes that we had to stop at the Pilot Travel Center in Franklin for a restroom break.” They recalled, laughing about the fateful detour.
Theresa purchased a Powerball ticket for the August 1, 2026, drawing. The Powerball ticket had five sets of numbers. She also added Power Play. Power Play is a $1 add-on per play and allows players to multiply non-jackpot prizes by the Power Play number drawn.
The winning Powerball numbers from the Saturday, Aug. 1st drawing were: 6 – 17 – 27 – 48 – 50 Powerball 5 and the Power Play was 3.
By adding the Power Play to her ticket, Theresa was able to turn a $50,000 prize into a $150,000 Powerball prize.
“I always add Power Play,” Theresa said. She also told lottery officials that she will start adding Double Play as well for a chance to win with another set of numbers.
Lottery tickets are a road trip tradition for the family since Alabama doesn’t have a lottery. “We’ll pick them up randomly, just through different states,” they explained. “When we’re on long road trips and the jackpots are high, we talk about what we would do if we won,” Theresa said.
The excitement didn’t end there. After returning home, Theresa downloaded the Kentucky Lottery app to check their tickets. “I looked at my phone, and I just sat there for a second. I was like, ‘No way. That can’t be real!’”
Theresa showed her husband the screenshot from her phone where they had won $150,000. “Well, it looks like we’re going back to Kentucky tomorrow,” she said.
Theresa admits the nerves were real. “It’s very nerve-wracking, having something of that amount that could easily blow away with the wind. I was like, put it in a frame or something!”
After taxes, the family’s take-home prize was a whopping $108,750.
As for the winnings, the family plans to pay off vehicles, help their daughter in college, and plan a family vacation. “It’s all about the memories, right?” they said.
When asked about sharing the news at work, James joked, “I kind of want to take the check just so I can go back to work and say, ‘I told y’all!’”
Pilot Travel Center will receive $1,500 for selling the winning ticket.