$30K Scratch-it Lottery Win For Prineville Man

PRINEVILLE, OR — After revealing a $30,000 prize from an Oregon Lottery Scratch-it, Joel Martin could only say one thing: "Dude."

"I kept trying to tell my friends, but I could get any words out," Martin recently told Oregon Lottery officials. "It was a euphoric feeling."

Equally excited at Martin's luck was his girlfriend Dani Kentner. The pair were on one of their first dates as a couple — a camping trip in Central Oregon — when Martin learned he'd won the lottery.

“We were going up the mountains to camp, and stopped to get sodas when I had some money left over,” Martin said. “So I asked my new girlfriend, Dani, which Scratch-it she wanted and she said she wanted me to pick. So I picked the $3 Pirates Gold.”

At their camping spot, Kentner took photos of butterflies while Martin began scratching his Pirates Gold.

“When I saw the 3, I thought I had won my money back, then I saw a bunch of zeroes," he said. "When I saw the comma I said ‘NO WAY!’ We both looked at it and knew it was a winner.”

According to Martin and Kentner, all he could get out for the rest of the day were uncontrollable giggles and the word "dude."

Back at the Main Station Express in Prineville where Martin bought the ticket, a quick scan confirmed what Martin and Kentner already knew: Martin just won $30,000.

“I was jumping and whooping and freaking out,” Martin said. “The clerk had me sign the back of the ticket immediately.”

Martin, who runs a glass art retail business, said he plans to invest the money into his entrepreneurship.

“We can get more artists and a better space now,” he said.

For more information on the Oregon Lottery and its various games and prizes, visit www.oregonlottery.org.

Image via Oregon Lottery