Kentucky family wins lottery on scratch off ticket, splits $500,000 prize
A family in northern Kentucky is half a million dollars richer after winning a scratch-off ticket last week.
William Hicks and his sons William Hicks Jr. and Stephen Hicks, who live in California, Kentucky, are the latest lottery winners.
Watch WLWT's top headlines of the day for Aug. 2 in the player above
The family claimed a $500,000 Kentucky Lottery scratch-off ticket last Friday, making the winnings a family affair.
Kentucky Lottery officials said William owns a garage door repair company where both of his sons work. His sons, William Jr. and his brother Stephen ride to work together and on the way sometimes stop to buy lottery tickets.
On Friday, they were riding together when they stopped at the Speedway on Alexandria Pike, where they both bought a scratch-off ticket.
“I’ll usually scratch one and he’ll (Stephen) scratch one,” William Jr. said. “Stephen suddenly tells me we’d won $500,000, but I figured he was looking at it wrong. We must have looked at it 40 times, and I asked to be pinched a few times,” he said.
But it was true — the ticket matched the number 7, winning the game’s $500,000 top prize.
They immediately called their dad to tell him the good news.
“Dad, you’re not going to believe this. We’ve just won a half a million dollars,” William Jr. said.
“I was like, no way. He spent the next few minutes trying to convince me,” William said.
William said his sons started talking about what they will do with the money.
“William immediately started telling me who he was going to help out. That’s just the way he is,” his dad said.
The family arrived at the Kentucky Lottery headquarters hours later to claim the prize.
After taxes, they each received a check for $118,333.33.
Lottery officials said Stephen told them he needed tires for his truck and the day before had bought just one tire because that was all he could afford.
“Now, I’m going to buy a truck," Stephen said.
Kentucky Lottery officials said William Jr. says he plans to pay off his mom’s mortgage and help his grandmother. As for the dad, he has been renting a farmhouse and is looking to buy the property.
Speedway will receive a $5,000 bonus for selling the winning ticket.