Story - The Meade County Messenger


Vol. 117, No. 28	July 15, 2009

Local customer buys $430,000 winning
lottery ticket at River Ridge Marathon

By LARRY SEE JR.
Messenger Staff

It could be said that River Ridge Marathon customer service representative Donna Fraley has “magic fingers.”

It was her fingers that caused a local resident to win $430,000 earlier this month in the Three Line Lotto contest of the Kentucky Lottery.

Photo by Larry See Jr.
River Ridge Marathon customer service representative Donna Fraley ques up the store’s Kentucky Lottery machine for another sale last week. It was Fraley who sold the winning ticket July 7, to a lucky area resident.

“It was an instant pick,” Fraley remembered of the customer’s selection. She added the store sees a lot more quick picks than the customer’s actual randomly-selected numbers.

The Brandenburg resident will celebrate her second-year anniversary this August and is currently a shift manager at the 630 ByPass Road site.

“I filled out an application, Sandy Howard called me and I was hired,” Fraley said. “Doug, Sandy and I went to school together and I worked at the daycare with her kids.”

To win the jackpot, the customer matched all six winning numbers in a single row. The Kentucky Lottery, in a press release, reported the winning numbers were 6-25-32-33-36-37.

“The store was called July 8,” store co-owner Sandy Howard said. “The lottery people wanted to let us know that the winning ticket was sold at our store. From that point on, excitement was everywhere. Here at the store with customers coming in and all over town as well.”

“I was off and they called me so I could come in and see the tape and see if I recognized anyone,” Fraley said. “To have it here in Brandenburg and in our store is really nice.”

Howard said River Ridge Marathon prides themselves on their friendliness – not only to the customers
but to the staff as well – and doesn’t make a lot of money from their lottery sales.

“We pride ourselves on our clean store and our clean restrooms,” she said. “We get a lot of people who comment on the fact they like the cleanliness of our store and the friendliness of our staff. We have a
great group of employees here and we appreciate them.”

Howard said the employees were all excited as word spread regarding the sale.

“All of our employees wanted to know if they had sold the winning ticket and who the winner was,” she said.

Store manager Virginia Livers couldn’t remember the last time a large ticket was sold there. The store has sold lesser winners, it was reported.

“This was our first and for it to happen was just great,” Howard said.

“As a lottery retailer, we receive 1 percent, and we received word that representatives from the Kentucky Lottery office will be coming in a store in a week or so to make a check presentation to us,” Howard said. (See sidebar).

For now, the store’s winning portion will be directed into their lottery account, Howard said,

“The customer has requested anonymity and we have asked all of our employees to respect that,” Howard said. “I just hope the person will still visit us at the store. We’re going to respect their privacy and we’re not going to treat the customer any differently than we would treat anyone else.”

On the bright side, Three Line Lotto ticket sales have increased tremendously since word spread.
And those sales probably have a lot to do with Fraley’s magic fingers.

Check presentation ceremony

The public is invited to a special ceremony July 20, at 11 a.m. at River Ridge Marathon to witness a special check presentation of the store’s portion of the winnings.

Kentucky Lottery Vice President Bob Little and other officials are expected to attend and cake and beverages will be provided for staff and customers, Howard said.

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