What started as a typical workday for one La Porte man quickly turned into an unbelievably exciting day. 

A regular Hoosier Lottery Scratch-offs player, he usually purchases one or two tickets whenever he stops to get gas on his way home from work. He always waits to scratch them until the next morning—he says it’s a fun way to start his day.

Just before starting work one morning, he was sitting in his truck scratching the $20 Ca$hword ticket he had purchased the night before. As he counted the number of completed words on his ticket, his eyes widened. He had found 11 completed words, which would mean he won $10,000. 

He counted them all again, just to be sure. “This time, when I saw there were 12 words, I couldn’t believe it,” he said.

He hadn’t won $10,000. He had won the $500,000 top prize!

He immediately told his wife and then called his dad. They were both just as excited as he was.

He plans to put his winnings in his retirement account.

$20 Ca$hword Estimated Overall Odds: 1 in 3.43