Kentucky Nurse Wins $200,000 Lottery Prize On First Day Of Retirement

A woman in Floyd County, Kentucky, won the top prize of a lottery on the first day of her retirement, officials said.

The former nurse, who wished to remain anonymous, won $200,000 after she bought a $10 Tree-Mendous Winnings scratch-off ticket at a Double Kwik convenience store in Prestonburg and noticed she matched the number 20 on the final row, WSAZ reported, citing a stamement released by the game's operator, the Kentucky Lottery.

The date the woman won was not disclosed, but Kentucky Lottery's website showed that someone had won the Tree-Mendous Winnings scratch-off game's $200,000 top prize at Double Kwik no. 2 in Prestonsburg on Nov. 4.

The winner was reportedly a frontline nurse during the COVID-19 pandemic and was just hours into the first day of her retirement following 36 years of service when she won the lottery.

"It was unbelievable. I had just retired that day. I saw this as a sign it was meant to be for me to quit working," the woman was quoted as saying in Kentucky Lottery's statement.

The retiree later drove to the lottery organizer's Louisville headquarters to receive her check and cashed in a lump sum of around $142,000 after taxes.

The Prestonburg Double Kwik, meanwhile, received a $2,000 bonus for selling the winning ticket to the woman.

Two more $200,000 prizes in the Tree-Mendous Winnings scratch-off game remain, according to the Kentucky Lottery.

Nearly half a dozen nurses across the country have collected lottery winnings, with some prizes reaching $1 million, a report by USA Today said.

One of the winners — like the retiree from Kentucky — was a COVID-19 nurse.

Terri Watkins, of Durham, North Carolina, learned she won the $1 million prize of the state's Supreme Riches lottery on Jan. 13.

"I thought it was a scam. I was a little upset actually! I thought that it was not real, couldn't be real," said Watkins, who was a COVID-19 nurse at a long-term care facility in her state.

Watkins later decided to claim her prize as a lump sump of $600,000 rather than have the $1 million be handed out as an annuity of $50,000 over 20 years.

Another North Carolina nurse won a little over $200,000 from a lottery jackpot this year.