Kentucky driver running low on fuel stops for $20 gas and walks away with a $1 million lottery win

Sometimes ignoring the fuel gauge can lead to a million-dollar windfall. A Kentucky driver who made an emergency pitstop at a gas station after running out of fuel walked out a millionaire. After coasting to the station, Michael Schlemmer bought a ticket for the Luck Kentucky Lottery scratch-off game with spare change and ended up winning $1 million. 

Struck gold while looking for oil

Schlemmer from Corbin, which is about 100 miles northwest of Knoxville, won the lottery last year in a twist of fate. Speaking with the lottery officials, he explained that he ran out of gas and barely coasted to the Convenient Food Mart for a refill.

With the $40 he had, he spent $20 on gas and with the rest, he bought the scratch-off ticket to try his luck. Schlemmer scratched the ticket outside the store and didn't have to check or wait to learn that he had won. The automatic symbol on the ticket immediately indicated that he had won the game's top prize. 

“I scratched it off and I looked at it and went back [into] the store,” he said in the press release. He then  showed it to the staff who started grinning once they realized that Schlemmer had won. It was then confirmed that he had won $1 million.

“Nothing went through my mind,” Schlemmer told the lottery officials. He said he wouldn't believe it until he got his check. However, he opted to give up some money and the chance to become a millionaire. 

Schlemmer decided to take the lump sum of $862,000, instead of the annuity payments of $50,000 every year. Thus, after taxes, Schlemmer took home about  $616,330. Schlemmer shared that he had been looking to buy a new car and his winnings will help him make the purchase.

“I told the dealership I’m waiting for a big check to come in and then I hit that,” Schlemmer told the lottery, adding that he plans to deposit the rest of the cash into his savings, the New York Post reported. Apart from Schlemmer, Convenient Food Mart, the seller of the ticket will also receive $8,620 (1% of the prize) as a bonus. 

Life changing wins

In a heartwarming story from earlier this year, a cancer patient won the Powerball Jackpot lottery worth $1.3 billion. Cheng “Charlie” Saephan, an immigrant from Laos, told the lottery that he had been battling cancer for eight years. After winning, the Portland resident said that he would be sharing the prize with his friend, who had chipped in $100 for the ticket. 

At a press conference held by the Oregon Lottery, Saephan said that since his diagnosis, he often wondered how the future would look like for his family. Now, he said the winnings will help him provide for his wife and two young children. He added that it would also help him get a better doctor and better care as well.

Saephan's $1.3 billion prize was the fourth-largest Powerball jackpot in the history of the game.