21 coworkers get early Christmas present as boss gifts them winning lottery ticket

Sign up to Simon Calder’s free travel email for expert advice and money-saving discounts

Get Simon Calder’s Travel email

A group of coworkers is celebrating after they split lottery winnings from scratch-off tickets given to them by their boss as a Christmas present.

According to the Kentucky Lottery, Sheila Colter, a second shift supervisor at Med Center Health in Bowling Green, decided to purchase lottery tickets for her coworkers after realising that the presents she ordered online wouldn’t ship in time.

“Our work Christmas party was early this year. I had ordered some items online, but they didn’t come in before the party,” the woman said. “So, I decided to get scratch-offs instead.”

The supervisor gifted the colleagues scratch-offs with small values in addition to $30 tickets to share, a news release read. The group won $50 from a $30 ticket so she decided to purchase a $50 Millionaire Club Scratch-off, which Ms Colter said won $100.

“I would stop on the way to work, and we kept winning,” she said.

Betting on the group’s good luck streak, Ms Colter bought two more of the millionaire club tickets, resulting in the $50,000 win which she split between 21 people.

“We were all so excited,” she said. “I was on the floor.”

The supervisor noted that she’d be using her share of the winnings, about $1,700 to complete her Christmas shopping. After taxes, the group will take home roughly $36,000.

One of her coworkers, Winnie Beckman, said she’d be putting the money toward medical bills. Her mother was recently diagnosed with stage four cancer, she said.

“I’m going to use it for my mom’s medicine,” she said. “This will help a lot. And I will never forget this.”

Ms Colter was given an oversized check to share with the team, the news release states. The store where the ticket was bought will receive $500.