Jeff Hileman has a routine. He only buys one Scratch-off each day – sometimes every-other day – and it’s always a $5 Scratch-off. He always waits until he gets home before he scratches to see if he’s won. And, he always uses a bicentennial 50-cent piece to scratch; it’s from the year he graduated.
Recently, this routine revealed to Jeff a $100,000 prize on a $5 Full of $500s Scratch-off.
“I do this for fun, but,” Jeff trails off, smiling while looking down at his ceremonial $100,000 check from the Hoosier Lottery.
Jeff and his wife, Lori, claimed the $100,000 prize at Hoosier Lottery headquarters in Indianapolis. The couple from Wabash owns a small business.
Jeff purchased the winning ticket at Speedway, 740 S. Wabash St. in Wabash. It wasn’t the ticket he wanted, though he’s happy to lay claim to it now.
“I went into Speedway and said, ‘I want this one over here,’” Jeff said, pointing. The store was sold out of that Scratch-off, so he pointed to “the red one,” which was $5 Full of $500s and a $100,000 winner.
The prize money will go toward new carpet in the living room of Jeff and Lori’s home. They plan to put the rest in the bank.
$5 Full of $500s Estimated Overall Odds are 1 in 3.99.