Neil Watson
Nebraska Lottery
Lincoln, NE–January 21– Debra and Kenneth Karel of Clarkson are the eighth and final winners of a 2024 Ford F-150 XLT 4x4 SuperCrew truck in the 29th edition of the Nebraska Lottery’s $2 Truck$ & Buck$ Scratch game.
The Karels purchased their winning Truck$ & Buck$ ticket at Didier’s Grocery at 122 W 16th St. in Schuyler. They were presented with their new truck on Friday, January 17 by Nebraska Lottery officials.
It was a series of lucky coincidences that led to the win, Kenneth said. They’d been in town for a appointment and stopped at Didier’s for some groceries before heading back to Clarkson. On their way out, Kenneth decided to buy a few Scratch tickets.
On the ride back he started scratching off the ticket but ended up not finishing and added it to a pile of non-winning tickets. The next morning he was cleaning out his truck and picked up the ticket pile to throw them away but something told him to take another look when he discovered the unscratched portion.
“I scratched it off and looked at my wife who was sitting in a chair across the room,” Kenneth said. “I saw three trucks and asked her, ‘do you think this is real?’”
“It took a while for it to register,” Debra said.
It’s looking like 2025 will be the Karel’s year. They won the truck and Kenneth found the pocket knife he’s had for 30 years he thought he’d lost forever.
“It’s a lucky January,” he said.
The 29th edition of the Nebraska Lottery’s popular $2 Truck$ & Buck$ Scratch game features the 2024 Ford F-150 XLT 4x4 SuperCrew truck as its top prize. Players have the opportunity to win one of eight Ford F-150 trucks as well as thousands of cash prizes. The truck prize is valued at $81,500, which includes $976 for costs associated with ownership and state and federal withholding paid by the Nebraska Lottery of $4,075 and $19,560, respectively. The odds of winning the top prize in Truck$ & Buck$ are 1 in 336,000, while the overall odds of winning any prize are 1 in 3.69.
The mission of the Nebraska Lottery is to generate proceeds for good causes while providing quality entertainment options to Nebraskans. Over $1 billion has been raised for the Nebraska Lottery’s beneficiary funds since the Lottery began in 1993. All 93 counties in Nebraska have benefited from projects funded with these Nebraska Lottery proceeds.