SIDNEY — A local couple was the grand prize winner on the Oct. 1 50/50 drawing with the Ohio Lottery.
Mike and Tammy Knoop, who own Belmar Bowling Lanes, cashed in their ticket for $93,665 at a regional office on Oct. 6.
“My wife and I got lucky,” said Knoop. “The game just started five to six weeks ago and they have a drawing every Saturday night.”
Knoop said he’s been playing it every week.
The Ohio 50/50 game has one grand prize winner each Saturday. The top prize is based on 50 percent of the weekly sales. The grand prize increases with every dollar sold for the drawing.
There are also 10 winners who receive $2,000 each and another 25 winners receive $500 each.
Knoop said 29 percent of their winnings will go to state and federal taxes. He estimates they’ll receive between $66,000-67,000.
And what will they do with their winnings once they receive their check?
“We remodeled the bowling center over the summer and put $125,000 into it,” said Knoop. “We had to take a lease out for $100,000 so we’ll use a lot of it to lower out debt.”
Knoop said he and his wife recently moved into new home and they have a few things they want to do there with part of their winnings.
“My dad plays the game too and he called the bowling alley Sunday morning wanting to know what the numbers were,” said Knoop. “I printed it out and told him that he didn’t win.”
Knoop said he decided to check his numbers so he got his ticket from his office.
“I grabbed mine and they started to match up,” said Knoop. “They were the identical numbers. My brother-in-law was in the bowling alley and I yelled at him. We kept looking at it and couldn’t believe it.
“We have a scanner in the lounge area for people to check their tickets,” he said. “Sure enough, I scanned it and I was a winner. It was quite awesome.”
Knoop said he’s won small amounts in the lottery, sometimes $100, but nothing like this jackpot.
