(LEX 18) — The Kentucky Lottery announced that 17 Barton 1792 Distillery workers won $50,000 after they purchased the winning Powerball ticket at the Bardstown Walmart as part of their weekly office pool.
Officials reported that the weekly office pool has been occurring for over a year, with coworker Chris Smith purchasing tickets for the three weekly Powerball drawings.
“We all play the lottery; every week I go around, I collect money from everybody, and we got a little pool going,” Smith said. “Usually we’ll win, like, four bucks or eight bucks. Once we won $100. This weekend we won $50,000, which is a pretty good little payout for everybody.”
The winning ticket was purchased by Smith on March 21 and the crew then carpooled to lottery headquarters on March 25 to collect the prize, officials added.
“I scanned it on the machine; $50,000 showed up, and the first thing I do is look and see who is behind me. Anybody see that?” Smith joked. “It felt pretty nice, you know? And then I took it home and scanned it on my phone just to make sure it read the same, and it did, and I was like, okay.”
According to officials, the winning ticket matched four white ball winning numbers, plus the Powerball, resulting in a $50,000 win.
Kentucky Lottery CEO Mary Harville presented the group with the $50,000 ceremonial check and took pictures in the process. Harville went on to hand each winner their check of $2,941 after taxes.
“The Kentucky Lottery’s mission is funding education and creating fun games and an amazing winner experience in our Winners Experience Lobby,” Harville said. “You could tell these winners were a tight-knit group and truly enjoyed being around each other because they were laughing and joking with one another while we were printing their checks.”
The Barton 1792 bottling bourbon coworkers are first shift and have worked together for a number of years, with one member having worked at the distillery for 45 years, officials reported.
The Walmart in Bardstown will receive $500 for selling the winning ticket.
