January 18, 2012
Tears of joy, relief accompany Southern Indiana woman’s $100,000 win
INDIANAPOLIS –Angel Pruitt of Guilford, Ind. was taking a lunch break at her desk at work Tuesday at noon when she scratched off a $100,000 prize on a Hoosier Lottery Scratch-off and immediately started crying. In disbelief, Pruitt asked a co-worker to look at the ticket and confirm what she thought she was seeing on the ticket. Her co-worker concurred that it looked like a $100,000 winner and then she, too, started crying. They called more co-workers over to check the ticket and pretty soon the whole office was in tears.
“I started crying and then we all started crying,” said Pruitt. “They were so happy for me.”
Pruitt works in administration at Hill-Rom in Batesville. At her boss’s urging, she took the rest of the day off and headed to Indianapolis to claim her winnings. Within a couple hours, Pruitt was at Hoosier Lottery Headquarters with a check in hand.
Pruitt says the tears just happened involuntarily as she realized that her immediate financial worries were over. Pruitt says an extra $100,000 will take a lot of financial pressure off. She hopes to pay off her student loans, her car and some of her mortgage.
“This should give me an extra $700 a month,” said Pruitt. “That will make a huge difference.”
Pruitt is a lifelong Hoosier and has a one-year-old daughter. She purchased her lucky ticket at Sunman IGA at 114 N. Meridian in Sunman, which is about halfway between her home in Guilford and her job in Batesville.
Pruitt is the second lucky winner to claim a $100,000 top-prize on the Hoosier Lottery’s new Wild Cherry Slots™ Scratch-off. Five top prizes remain unclaimed on the game at this time.
The Hoosier Lottery reminds players to always play responsibly and always sign the back of their tickets.
The Hoosier Lottery is committed to providing innovative and entertaining lottery games for the benefit of the citizens of Indiana. In fiscal year 2011, the Hoosier Lottery generated $188 million in net income which was used to significantly reduce the motor vehicle excise tax for all Hoosier drivers and also supported the pension funds for retired Indiana teachers, police and firefighters. Player prizes for the fiscal year totaled $495 million and $56 million was earned by Indiana retailers on the sale of Hoosier Lottery products.
Since its inception in 1989, the Hoosier Lottery has produced nearly $4 billion in net income for the citizens of Indiana, nearly $1 billion in commissions and bonuses for participating Indiana retailers, and has paid out more than $8.4 billion in player prizes.
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For more information, please contact Al Larsen at alarsen@hoosierlottery.com or 317-264-4805.
Photo: Angel Pruitt collects her winnings at Hoosier Lottery Headquarters Jan. 17.