COLUMBUS — A group of five Columbus-area friends who have played the lottery together for 11 years finally hit the jackpot, winning $9.9 million in the August 16 Hoosier Lotto drawing.
The group, calling themselves "Milly's Lottery Pool," claimed their prize at the Hoosier Lottery Prize Payment Office in downtown Indianapolis. The winning ticket was purchased at Jack's Place located at 910 3rd St. in Columbus.
The five winners — Milly, Tony, Kendra, Jenny, and Roxanne — opted to take the cash value of $4,682,171, split five ways. Four of the group members have been playing together since they started 11 years ago, initially meeting at their factory job.
Milly, who runs a lottery YouTube channel called "Oldladyscratcher," typically purchases the tickets and posts images to the group's Facebook Messenger chat. For the August 16 drawing, she forgot to post the tickets until August 18.
"I scanned the ticket on the Hoosier Lottery app as I was posting the photo to the group and saw the amount was too large to pay at a retailer," Milly said. "I quickly looked up the numbers and realized we had won! A follow-up message was sent: 'OMG! Everyone, we hit it. We won!'"
The news spread quickly among the group members, each experiencing their own moment of disbelief.
Tony was charging his phone when the messages started flooding in.
"I was sitting down to dinner when I read the message that we won. At that point I couldn't eat dinner," Tony said.
Kendra was leaving work when she received the call through Messenger.
"At first, I thought it was a butt dial from the group and then saw the message they had won. I thought, 'this is not real,'" Kendra said.
Jenny had just read on Facebook that a jackpot winning ticket was sold in Columbus.
"I thought, 'I wish that was me,'" Jenny said.
Shortly after, she saw the group's winning message. She initially tried not to tell her adult children, but after a week, she invited them over for the news.
Roxanne and her family had just parked at the airport for an Alaskan cruise when her son read aloud a news story about the Columbus jackpot winner. Minutes later, she received the group's message. She considered staying home to claim the prize but decided to continue with her trip, and the group waited for her return.
Hoosier Lottery Executive Director Sarah M. Taylor visited with the group during their prize claim.
"We love when Hoosiers play Indiana's hometown favorite jackpot game, and we especially love it when Hoosiers win. The fact a group of longtime friends and co-workers from the Columbus-area have won this jackpot together adds an extra layer of excitement," Taylor said.
Each winner has plans for their winnings, including new cars, new houses, and banking the money. The group shared similar sentiment that the win will "take weight off their shoulders."
Related:
Jack's Place will receive nearly $100,000 from the Hoosier Lottery for selling the winning ticket.
The winning numbers for August 16 were: 1-21-26-31-33-34.
This marks the third Hoosier Lotto jackpot win of 2025. The previous wins occurred in March, with a $42.5 million jackpot on March 12 and a $1.2 million jackpot on March 22.
The next Hoosier Lotto drawing is August 30 with an estimated $1.4 million jackpot. Players have until 10:39 p.m. ET to purchase $2 tickets for the 11 p.m. ET drawing.
