A woman was taking a break from a friend’s wedding preparations, when she decided to play the lottery – and it was the right thing to do. The woman, one Misti Pagan, was rewarded for her prescience and won $65,000 from the Kentucky Lottery online.
Woman Takes a Break from Wedding Preparation – Wins Lottery Prize
Pagan shared with the lottery how it all came to be, saying that she hadn’t done anything out of the ordinary. In fact, she followed her weekly ritual and played the Reef Riches game through the lottery’s app, which led to the $65,000 win.
She decided to play while she was typing up wedding ceremony for her friend, taking a small break from the preparations, when good fortune struck. Pagan admitted that she had never hoped to win a five-figure sum from the lottery.
This is why, when the sum $65,216.59 appeared on her screen, she had serious trouble believing that it had happened.
“I’ve won small amounts before, so I didn’t think anything of it. My heart dropped. I felt like I was going to pass out. “I yelled to my fiancé, ‘Babe, I think I just won sixty-five thousand dollars,” the woman recounted, struggling to grasp the reality of what had happened.
Money to Go to Securing Her Grandmother’s Home
The money has already been allocated towards a meaningful goal as well – the purchase of her late grandmother’s home, a 1940 Sears, Roebuck & Co. model home in Sandusky, Ohio, the winner shared with the lottery, unable to contain her excitement.
“That’s exactly what we’re doing with this. It means everything to be able to buy her house,” the winner shared. Her actual win is smaller than the headline prize, however, as the lottery payout is reduced to $47,282.03 after all customary taxes are withheld.
Not All Kentucky Lottery Stories Are as Wholesome
But the lottery story of Pagan is just one of many to come out of the Bluegrass State. In fact, the state’s largest lottery winner – who secured a $167-million payout in 2025 – has been cited in a new legal incident that could see him face yet more trouble.
James Farthing is having trouble with the law for the fourth time since he won the nine-figure jackpot, and he promised his mother he would make up for some of the bad decisions he had made in the past.
In the latest case involving Farthing, he is the suspect in a hit-and-run incident. Previously, he brawled with a casino patron and punched a police officer, and was also suspected of a second-degree burglary.