TOPEKA, Kan. – Many Kansas Lottery players who see a lottery ticket that was accidentally printed by a retailer, purchase it thinking it might bring them luck. That was the case for a Newton resident, who purchased a “mistake” ticket and won a $30,000 cash prize playing Hot Lotto!

“I always buy lottery tickets at the same store,” said the winner, who wished to remain anonymous. “On June 16, I stopped at the store and noticed they had a $1 Hot Lotto ticket taped to the side of their lottery machine. When they do that, I always know it was a ticket printed by mistake. When I got up to the counter, I pointed at the ticket and told the store clerk, “I’ll take that.”

According to the winner, he’s “loyal” to Hot Lotto and plays the game every Wednesday and Saturday. When he buys tickets, he always buys five tickets at a time for $1 each.

“I play Powerball and Mega Millions on occasion,” said the winner. “If I have a chance to buy a mistake ticket, I don’t care what game it is. I’ve won a few dollars here and there by buying them. I never thought I would win something this big though.”

The Newton resident said he waits a couple of week before checking his tickets. When he scanned his winning Hot Lotto ticket, he was confused when the message he received read, “Sign back of ticket. Claim at Lottery.”

“I’ve never seen that message before, so I was confused,” said the winner. “I took my tickets up to the counter and asked the clerk to scan them for me. When he scanned the ticket and got the same message as I did, he said I must have won big. He pulled out the Lottery’s How to Play book and together, we discovered I had won $30,000 for matching the first five Hot Lotto numbers. I was totally surprised. Buying that ticket was no mistake.”

The lucky winner matched the first five numbers, but not the Hot Ball in the June 18 drawing. He purchased his winning ticket at Lonestar Store 26, located at 1823 N. Main in Newton.