Local man throws away winning ticket!

CLINTON, Ind. (WTHI) - A Vermillion County, Indiana man throws away a $50,000 winning lottery ticket, but manages to get it back!

Ernest "Ernie" Scott III of Clinton matched all five numbers in the February 2nd evening Lucky 5 drawing, but thought it wasn't a winner when he first checked it.

Scott tossed his ticket in the trash.

The next day, Scott was scanning the Hoosier Lottery homepage for the Daily 3 numbers when the Lucky 5 winning numbers caught his eye as being the numbers he had played.

He knew the numbers by heart, because they are a combination of his wife and four children's birth dates.

Later, the whole family scrambled to the kitchen to retrieve the ticket from the trash, which had thankfully not been taken out.

The ticket was buried under coffee grounds.

It was soggy and stained, but all information necessary to validate the ticket was intact and readable.

The Scotts hope to use their "trash-can winnings" to build a garage and take their kids to Florida.

The winning ticket was purchased at Casey's at 1501 North 9th Street in Clinton.