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A woman in Kentucky got lucky with a secret Santa gift (icon image)
Photo: Leah-Anne Thompson / Design Pics / IMAGO
When colleagues invite you to a Christmas Secret Santa, not everyone is enthusiastic about it.
You have to get a gift and often you go home with one.
However, a woman from the US state of Kentucky hit the jackpot at her company's Christmas party - literally.
As local media reports, the employees of a dental practice in Louisville had bought secret Santa gifts for 25 dollars each.
The office manager Lori Janes got hold of a voucher for the TJ Maxx store.
However, this was snatched away from her in the course of the game, so she was allowed to "steal" the gift from another person.
Janes was said to be a bit disappointed because she is a fan of the clothing stores.
Out of necessity, she opted for two scratch cards from the Kentucky Lottery.
When the game was over, the colleagues wanted Janes to scrape the tickets.
The first already brought her a profit of 50 dollars.
The second time, however, the assembled workforce apparently had to look several times.
All 15 fields of the ticket indicated a win.
That means: grand prize, $175,000!
"Everyone went completely nuts," Janes is quoted as saying in a statement from the lottery.
"Some got out their calculators and checked the results."
She then called her husband and their two children, who initially could not believe the whole thing.
"We thought she wasn't looking properly," her husband is quoted as saying.
"But then we heard people partying in the background and it got real."
Janes said she intends to use the money to pay off her daughter's student loan and the family's two cars.
How the person reacted when the tickets were snatched away in the elf game is not mentioned.
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