Carter County resident, his brother win lottery for third time

RUSH, Ky. (WTVQ) – William Grace of Rush, Ky., and his brother Earl Grace, of Coal Grove, Ohio, aren’t strangers to winning the Kentucky Lottery.

The brothers were both part of a group that won $200,000 on Powerball in December 2010.  Less than three months after that win, another group they were in won $400,000 on the Lottery’s 3 Line Lotto game.

“When we won Powerball, we said we would be back and sure enough, just a few months later there we were,” William said.

And now they’ve done it again, winning $100,000 on a Kentucky Lottery Scratch-off ticket.

Earl had given William scratch-off tickets as a birthday and Christmas gift, but after not winning anything, William decided to buy more.  The next day — December 23 — he bought a $30 Fastest Road to $3 Million at Summit Smart Stop in Ashland.

“I scratched off the barcode in the store and scanned it on the machine. It said one hundred thousand dollars, but I thought, I’m not too sure about this machine,” he told lottery officials.

That’s when he decided to scratch off the ticket to see just how he had won. William had matched the number 31 in the fourth row, and located directly below was the $100,000 prize.

“My new favorite number now is thirty-one,” William said.

Earl, who was with him at the time said, “I’ve got the app on my phone, let me see that ticket.”

That’s when the realization really set in they had won.

The brother’s split the $100,000 prize, each receiving $35,500, after taxes.  They each said they plan to pay off bills with their winnings.

“We will be back,” they told lottery officials as they left the lottery office.

Summit Smart Stop will receive a $1,000 bonus for selling the winning ticket.