Lottery player thought she won $5,000 — then co-worker checks her ticket. ‘Oh, my God!’

A Missouri Lottery player was ready to celebrate a $5,000 win — until her co-worker noticed she won an even bigger prize.

The woman from St. Charles said she made a split-second decision to purchase a 500X scratch-off ticket when the other game she wanted to play had a low quantity of tickets remaining, according to a Sept. 16 news release.

She scratched off the ticket on her lunch break at work later that day and was beginning to revel in her win.

“I got down to the prize and I thought I had won $5,000!” the winner told Missouri Lottery officials.

A co-worker inspected the woman’s ticket, and he noticed that she had missed a multiplier symbol on the ticket — turning the $5,000 win into $50,000.

“He said, ‘You better rethink! That looks like $50,000 to me,’” she told lottery officials. “So, I clutched it to my chest and said, ‘Oh, my God!’”

The $50,000 prize is one of 50 offered in the 500X game, which costs $50 play. The game has three top prizes of $5 million.

St. Charles is about a 25-mile drive northwest from St. Louis.

This story was originally published September 16, 2024 at 3:03 PM with the headline "Lottery player thought she won $5,000 — then co-worker checks her ticket. ‘Oh, my God!’."