The Scratch

A Pleasant Winner Gives A Pleasant Gift

Winners come into lottery HQ on a regular basis and when they come in, we in the marketing department like to barrage them with questions like “What are you going to do with the money?” or “How does it feel to win?” A lot of the time, the people who come in with winning tickets are too stunned to have an answer for either of those questions, but sometimes we have winners who walk into our office who don’t miss a beat when we ask. Ronald Pleasant of Lincoln won $20,000 playing our $10 Scratch game Winter Takes It All and he knew exactly what he was going to do with his money.

When he claimed the ticket, Ronald had only known he was a winner for a little over 12 hours. He had purchased his winning ticket the night before and wasted no time in bringing it in to claim his prize. Most of the time, winners allow themselves a little bit of time to splash water on their faces, pinch themselves and take a cold shower to make sure they aren’t actually dreaming.

Ronald was different. He knew without a doubt how he was going to use his money. His father has been dealing with medical issues and Ronald will be using the money to help his mother deal with the expenses of his care.

When he learned of his win, Ronald was standing in Hy-Vee. He let his emotions flow over him.“I screamed and everybody in the front of the store looked,” he said.

After we handed him his big check, Ronald headed for the door so he could see his mother. “She doesn’t know anything about this,” he said, “It’s a surprise.”