Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

A Winchester woman recently turned another year older and got richer thanks to a winning lottery ticket.

Katrina Yates won $100,000 on a scratch lottery ticket on her special day.

“I was [purely] shocked,” Yates said. “My knees felt weak, and I was just shaking all over. I just honestly could not believe it.”

For Yates, the experience was certainly unplanned.

Having spent Saturday, Oct. 7, her birthday, traveling with her husband, Clark County Judge-Executive Les Yates, she was returning to Winchester after enjoying dinner in Dry Ridge, located in Grant County.

After stopping at Exit 159, they headed toward a Speedway gas station.

Noticing a crowd, Yates made a suggestion.

“I said, ‘If it were me, and I was driving, I would go across the street to the Fas Mart’,” she said. “There [were about] two cars in the parking lot.”

What seemed to be a routine, uneventful decision soon resulted in remarkable results.

After going inside to pick up a few items, Yates found herself near the register.

Not even thinking about the lottery when she entered the Fas Mart, she soon noticed something nearby.

“I looked over the counter, and they had a display of the scratch-off tickets,” Yates said, noting that she doesn’t play often but found the display attractive. “I said, ‘Can I get three of those scratch-off [tickets].’ That’s how it happened.”

Upon returning to the vehicle, it didn’t take long for Yates to find her shocking – and valuable – prize.

“The very first one that I scratched off showed the dollar sign, and I said, ‘Oh, it’s probably ten dollars,’” Yates added. “I kept scratching, and there [were] a lot more zeros, and it said $100,000…I just got so weak. I just couldn’t stand it. I couldn’t believe it.”

Asked about Judge Yates’ impression, Yates noted that he was initially in disbelief.

“He didn’t believe me at first. [He said] ‘That can’t be real.’ I said, ‘Yes, it’s real!”, she said.

Downloading an app from Kentucky Lottery that allows individuals to scan the ticket, Yates confirmed that the ticket did, indeed, entitle her to $100,000.

“We were both just screaming from ear to ear,” Yates said. “[Judge Yates] said, ‘This is the stuff that happens to other people. Not us!”

Later the next week, on Oct. 12, Katrina Yates accepted a $100,000 check from the office of the Kentucky Lottery Corporation in Louisville.

Asked what her plans were, Yates remained incredulous.

“The initial shock is still in me,” she said. “We didn’t have any ideas or plans. It’s just [a feeling] of total shock.”

Yates noted that it made for a very special birthday celebration.

“It was a wonderful birthday. I’ll never forget it,” Yates said.

In jest, she also pointed out that she looks forward to her next birthday.

“My husband’s wondering how he’s [going to] top it now,” Yates said.