Teen Buys Lottery Ticket as a ‘Joke’ Just After Midnight on 18th Birthday and Wins $10K Prize – AOL

NEED TO KNOW

• An Ohio teenager won big on his first-ever lottery ticket

• The lucky winner, identified by lottery officials as Austin, purchased his ticket at a local gas station just after midnight on his 18th birthday

• Although he didn’t have enough money for the ticket he initially had his eye on, he ended up winning a $10K prize

A lucky Ohio teenager can buy himself an extra special birthday gift thanks to a $10,000 lottery prize that he won just minutes after turning 18.

Although purchasing a scratch-off ticket to celebrate his milestone birthday started off a “joke”, the winner — identified as Austin from Lewis Center — went to a gas station in Columbus and purchased the ticket just after midnight, according to Ohio Lottery officials.

In a stroke of good luck, Austin said that he actually had his eye on a totally different ticket, but didn’t have enough money to purchase it. After that, he said he just picked the first $20 ticket he noticed. 

When Austin saw that he won, he was totally shocked, as was the friend he made the trip with. 

“This is not how adult life goes,” Austin recalls his friend, who is a year older, telling him. 

As for how he’ll spend the prize money — which comes out to $7,325 after mandatory state and federal tax withholdings — the teen says there’s one thing he needs badly: a new vehicle. 

Austin told lottery officials that the truck he has been driving around, which has 300,000 miles on it, has been acting up as of late. 

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The odds of winning a prize playing the $300 Million Diamond Dazzler  are 1 in 3.33, according to the Ohio Lottery. 

If you or someone you know is struggling with a gambling problem, please contact the National Problem Gambling Helpline Network at 1-800-522-4700 or go to gamtalk.org.

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