Customer unknowingly tips bartender winning Powerball ticket worth $50K
O’FALLON, Mo. - A customer in Missouri unknowingly tipped a bartender with a winning Powerball ticket worth $50,000 this month.
Taylor Russey, who works at Bleacher’s Bar in O’Fallon, Missouri, said the customer, a regular at the bar, bought her the ticket on Oct. 19, KMOV-TV reported.
The next day, the bar’s lottery terminal alerted the staff that they sold a big winning ticket, the station reported.
“I was like, ‘Guys, who won all this money and didn’t tell anybody?’” Russey asked.
FILE: An enlarged copy of the winning Powerball ticket purchased by Cindy and Mark Hill, of Dearborn, Missouri, is on display at the news conference inside North Platte High School announcing the Missouri family's winnings of $293,750,000, Friday, No
It turned out that it was Russey herself who won the $50,000. Her winning ticket matched four of the five white-ball numbers drawn on Oct. 19, plus the Powerball, according to KMOV.
Russey said it was not unusual for that particular customer to buy lottery tickets for other customers at the bar, the station reported.
“One of the regulars will buy the rest of the regulars in the bar Lottery tickets every now and then, especially when it’s high,” Russey said.
Missouri Lottery told the station that Russey’s $50,000 ticket is the 40th sold in Missouri, and the second sold in O’Fallon in 2019.
This story was reported from Los Angeles.