Flintville Teacher Wins Big With Scratch-Off Lottery Ticket

If you've ever bought a lottery ticket, you know what it's like when you win more than you spent. You spend a dollar and win three, or one dollar turns into $10. A local woman spent just a couple of bucks, only to end up winning a million dollars!

Sherry Horton is the lucky lady. She is an elementary school teacher in Flintville, Tennessee. Today, she's also a millionaire.


Horton bought her scratch-off ticket at Kay's Corner Lottery on Huntsville Highway in Fayetteville. Her luck has created quite the buzz, too - the town is talking!

"We're talking about a beehive," said Max Lee, the store owner. "When the word yesterday got out, she called and said she had won, people all over town were calling."

Here's how it all went down. Horton went into the store on Tuesday, and bought a ticket and won $5. She bought another ticket and won $50. Most of us would quit there, but not Horton. She bought another ticket and hit the jackpot.

Customers who heard about what happened lined up at the store today to try their hand at the same thing.

"Oh, I think it's great being from Fayetteville that someone here won it locally," said Joe Edmondson. "And you know, you look at the winner boards and it shows everybody winning from Memphis and Nashville and Knoxville, and very seldom do you ever see anybody from a small town like this," Edmondson continued to say.

Horton went to Nashville on Wednesday to claim her prize and join the "Tennessee Millionaire's Club." Lottery officials say she's the 10th winner of the Millionaire's Club Prize, and the 43rd person overall to walk away with at least $1,000,000.

No word yet on whether Horton plans to keep her teaching job.

By the way, the store that sold the winning ticket doesn't get anything out of this other than some free publicity and long lines from other wannabe millionaires.