Those who drive through Alexandria are familiar with the double Speedway locations on Alexandria Pike, but one of the gas stations proved to be luckier than the other this week.
Truck driver Michael Allen was traveling through the area on Wednesday and decided to stop at the Speedway location, at 7930 Alexandria Pike, and bought a $20 Mega Millionaire scratch-off, which he would later discover a $1 million winning.
“I stopped at a couple of places. At the first one, I bought a couple of Scratch-offs but didn’t win. Then I stopped in Speedway in Alexandria and bought the ticket,” Allen said, referring to his winning scratch-off. “I usually just scratch the bottom and then scan them to see if I’ve won.”
The Speedway clerk scanned the ticket to see if it was a winner and told Allen she hadn’t seen the message before.
“She said, ‘It says see KLC,’ and I said, ‘What does Kentucky Fried Chicken have to do with this?’” Allen joked.
KLC stands for Kentucky Lottery Corporation and is displayed when a prize is too large to be paid at a retail location. Allen then scanned it at the ticket checker and saw $871,000. “I took a picture of it three times because I was afraid it would go away.”
Allen then called his wife, who didn’t believe him.
“He’s always joking around, so I thought for sure it wasn’t true,” Sheila Allen said. “But then he got home and showed me. I said, ‘Oh my God.’ I was so shocked. I couldn’t sleep.”
Allen, on the other hand, wasn’t so shocked. He had just been talking about when he would win it big and felt it was coming soon. The couple made their way to Louisville headquarters to claim the prize.
Allen chose the lump sum cash option and walked away with a check for $622,765 after taxes. “It won’t change a thing,” he said when asked how they plan to use the money. “We’ll still work, and life will stay the same.”
The Speedway location in Alexandria will receive $10,000 for selling the winning ticket.