BOWLING GREEN, Ky. — If you’ve ever misplaced your wallet, you likely know the panicked feeling of frantically searching for the lost item. Now, imagine it was a $50,000 lottery ticket.
That’s exactly what happened to a Bowling Green couple who thought they threw away a winning Kentucky Lottery ticket.
On Oct. 30, 2023, Mark Perdue bought a Powerball ticket from AM Express. He said a week later, while stopping in to buy a Diet Mountain Dew, the store owner congratulated him.
Confused, he asked why she was congratulating him. That's when he found out he had won $50,000.
“I said, 'I wish.’ She said, 'you did, I have you on video.’” Perdue recalled.
There was only one problem, he couldn’t find the winning ticket.
For over three months he and his wife searched, believing they may have thrown it away.
“I’ve been beating myself up for three months thinking I threw this ticket away,” his wife told lottery officials. “I did throw a ticket away, but it was an older ticket. Then I convinced myself maybe it was this ticket.”
So, where was the ticket?
Lottery officials said Perdue, who is the president of Kiriu USA, had a visitor in town from another plant in early February. While in town, the visitor planned to use a company vehicle.
When Perdue and the plant manager went out to check the car’s condition, the manager sat in the front seat, officials said.
Perdue recalled looking down and to his surprise – and relief – there it was, the winning ticket from October 30th.
He said those vehicles are rarely driven and believes it fell out of his pocket the last time he drove the car.
“I don’t know how long it might have sat out there if I hadn’t needed the car,” Perdue said. “I was shaking a little bit.”
His wife said she also felt relief knowing the ticket had been found.
The couple showed up at the Kentucky Lottery’s headquarters in Louisville the next day and left with a check for $36,000 after taxes. They plan to use the money to pay off bills and maybe take a trip.
“She asked me last night what I wanted to do with [the winnings],” Perdue said.
“You’ve only had three months to think about,” his wife joked.
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