Kentucky woman wins $175K from lottery tickets nabbed in white elephant game

A Kentucky woman won big at a white elephant gift exchange after a colleague ‘stole’ her original gift of a $25 TJ Maxx gift card. 

Lori Janes, of Louisville, won $175,000 after scratching off a Kentucky Lottery Hit The Jackpot ticket she received on Wednesday at the Harmon Dental Center’s holiday party. 

The dental office manager originally tabbed a $25 TJ Maxx before her coworker ‘stole’ the gift, per the rules of the game. 

White elephant – which sometimes goes by ‘yankee swap’ or ‘dirty santa’ – is a gift exchange game where players aim to go home with the best gift. In order of drawn numbers, players choose to either open a gift or ‘steal’ someone else’s that’s already been opened. The game comes to an end after everyone has had a turn, the first player has had a chance to swap their gift, and everyone is satisfied with their loot – declines to steal a gift. 

Janes was originally ‘disappointed’ in the nab, because she ‘loves to shop at TJ Maxx,’ the Kentucky Lottery said. In return, she stole $25 lottery tickets from another coworker, sealing the deal and making the gift officially hers. 

‘Once it got to me, it was done and mine to keep. That’s when everyone was telling me to scratch them off,’ Janes told the Kentucky Lottery. 

Janes won $50 on the first ticket. As she scratched off the Hit the Jackpot ticket, she realized she had won a whopping $175,000.

Lori Janes, of Louisville (pictured), won $175,000 after scratching off a Kentucky Lottery Hit The Jackpot ticket she received on Wednesday at the Harmon Dental Center’s holiday party

The dental office manager originally nabbed a $25 TJ Maxx gift card before her coworker stole the gift, per the rules of the game. In return, she stole $25 lottery tickets from another coworker, sealing the deal and making the gift officially hers

‘Everyone was going insane,’ she said. ‘People were getting their calculators out and double checking. A couple of people even scanned the ticket on the lottery’s app, just to make sure.

‘I couldn’t believe it. It was a twenty-five-dollar gift exchange, and I won $175,000!’ 

When she called her husband and children to reveal the holiday surprise, they didn’t believe at her, thinking she had read the ticket wrong – until they heard her coworkers cheering.

‘We figured she didn’t look at it right, but then we heard people in the background celebrating, it became real,’ her husband, who was not named, told lottery officials. 

Just hours later, flanked by her family, she took home a giant check for $124,250 after taxes. 

Sunrise Market in Fisherville, where the winning tickets were sold, will receive a $1,750 bonus. 

Some of the prize money will go to paying off her daughter’s student loans and toward the family vehicles, Fox News reported.  

Janes won $50 on the first ticket. As she scratched off the Hit the Jackpot ticket, she realized she had won a whopping $175,000 (pictured) 

Her coworkers (pictured) cheered her on as she played. ‘Everyone was going insane,’ she said. ‘People were getting their calculators out and double checking. A couple of people even scanned the ticket on the lottery’s app, just to make sure’

When she called her husband and children to reveal the holiday surprise, they didn’t believe her, thinking she had read the ticket wrong until they heard her coworkers cheering