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DATE: June 25, 2008
CONTACT: Karie Lowe (785) 296-5744, karie.lowe@kslottery.net

Altamont Resident Shocked by $75,000 Win

TOPEKA, KAN. – Monday evening, Rocky Starmer of Altamont stopped at a local convenience store for a couple slices of pizza. After paying for the slices, Starmer had $10 left in his wallet, so he decided to try his luck playing a $10 Joker’s Wild instant scratch ticket. He couldn’t believe his luck when he revealed a $75,000 top prize!

“I can’t even tell you why I bought that ticket,” smiled Starmer. “I rarely buy $10 games. This is hard to believe.”

Starmer, who is legally blind, took his ticket home to play.

“I have to use a magnifying glass to see,” said Starmer. “When I realized I’d won $75,000, I thought I wasn’t seeing things right. I asked a friend who was visiting me to take a look. He said it appeared I had won $75,000, so I took the ticket back to the store where I had bought it.”

Starmer’s wife Sharon works at the convenience store where the ticket was purchased and happened to be working that evening.

“When I showed Sharon my ticket, she thought I must have read it wrong,” said Starmer.

“Winning this amount of money doesn’t happen in our tiny town,” said Sharon. “We had a hard time believing it was real. We’re just shocked.”

The Starmers, who have three grown children and six grandchildren, plan to pay bills with their prize money.

“We’ll be able to get out of debt,” said Starmer. “This is wonderful.”

The winning ticket was purchased at Casey’s General Store 1333, located at 500 E. 4th St. in Altamont.