(WBKO/WKYT) – Cody Baggett, who works as a mechanic, stopped at Huck’s on East Parrish Avenue in Owensboro to exchange a few winning $3 Electric Diamonds Scratch-off tickets for another round of play.
Baggett decided to buy one ticket before leaving the store and visiting his co-workers on his day off. That ticket would be a $50,000 winning ticket.
“I wasn’t expecting anything big,” Baggett said.
“I looked down and thought, ‘No… something’s wrong here,’ Then I checked the numbers again, and they all lined up. I pulled out my phone to scan it, and when it said I won… I yelled, ‘Oh, crap!’ My stepdad heard me from outside and thought something was wrong.”
“When I told the guy working in the shop, he looked at me and could tell something was up because I was pale,” Baggett said. “I told him, ‘I just won $50 grand.’ My stepdad walked in and said, ‘What’s wrong?’ I said, ‘Nothing — I just won $50 grand!’”
Baggett called his wife, who needed photographic evidence before she believed him.
“She didn’t believe me at first,” Baggett laughed. “I sent her a screenshot from the app showing the prize amount. She just kept saying, ‘No way.’”
Baggett and his wife have practical plans for the winnings. Including paying off some dept and purchasing both a new truck and motorcycle for family members.
A longtime lottery player, Baggett says scratch-offs hold sentimental value.
“It was something me and my Nana used to do together,” he said. “She’s gone now, but I think that has a lot to do with why I still enjoy it.”
Baggett walked away from the Kentucky Lottery with a check for $36,250 after taxes.