Bartender tipped with winning $50,000 lottery ticket

One bartender received a tip worth well over 20% of the tab thanks to a customer who paid with a Powerball lottery ticket.

Taylor Russey told the Missouri Lottery that the ticket, which was worth $50,000, was given to her by a regular customer who "will buy the rest of the regulars in the bar Lottery tickets every now and then, especially when it’s high."

“And he did that on Saturday -- he bought all of us Lottery tickets,” she added.

The staff at the bar found out from the lottery terminal that a $50,000 winning ticket has been sold and Russey questioned patrons and staff.

"I was like, 'Guys, who won all this money and didn’t tell anybody?'" Russey said.

She scanned the ticket she had received and saw that she needed to claim her prize at a lottery office, because it was worth $50,000, according to the Missouri Lottery.

Russey’s ticket had four of the five numbers that were drawn on Oct. 19 - 14, 27, 29, 59, 65, and the Powerball was 12.

The draw ticket had originally been purchased at Bleacher’s Bar, in O’Fallon.

Her winning ticket was the 40th worth $50,000 sold in Missouri and the second sold in O’Fallon in 2019.