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$500K winning ticket lights up Towns Co. for holidays
ATLANTA – A half-million dollar win has made the cut for one lucky lottery winner who purchased a winning ticket in Towns County. Joseph Ledford, a professional logger, has won a $500,000 top prize playing the instant game World Poker Tour.
Tree Tops Country Store – Lakeside Chevron, 1300 Highway 75 in Hiawassee, sold the winning ticket. Ledford, a resident of Hayesville, N.C., said he enjoys the game.
“I really like it now,” he said, gleefully. “It was just another day and by circumstance I hit it.”
The 38-year-old said he was in the store when he scratched the ticket and “was pale” when he discovered he’d won.
“The clerk and I were just standing there,” he said. “You could tell that something had happened.”
Working 12 years cutting trees and discarding its debris, Ledford said this year’s holiday stockings will be full.
“The first purchase will be a new vehicle,” he exclaimed.
Since its first year, the Georgia Lottery Corp. has returned more than $12.1 billion to the state of Georgia for education. All Georgia Lottery profits go to pay for specific educational programs, including Georgia’s HOPE Scholarship Program and Georgia’s Pre-K Program. More than 1.25 million students have received HOPE, and more than 1 million 4-year-olds have attended the statewide, voluntary prekindergarten program.
For more information on the Georgia Lottery Corp., please visit:
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