SALEM, Ore. — Salem man Thomas Osborne recently won $54,597 in Oregon Lottery prize money while playing Keno 8-Spot at Blondzee’s Guest House in Salem.
“The numbers I play were my father’s Keno numbers he played for years,” Osborne told lottery officials as he picked up his Keno prize late last month. The prize was announced Friday.
“I won another nice Keno prize a few years ago playing these numbers, so there’s no reason to use anything but those numbers,” he said.
All eight of his dad’s numbers matched, bringing him $15,000 and the 8-Spot rolling jackpot of $39,591, according to a lottery press release.
When players play the Keno 8-Spot, if no one has selected all eight numbers drawn, the rolling jackpot continues to grow.
During the next three games, four of his dad’s numbers matched, bringing in another $2 each game. "In bowling terms, he hit a strike and a few spares," officials joked in the release.
Osborne, 76, is an avid bowler and the youngest member of his bowling team, which won a state title last year.
Osborne told lottery officials he plans to use the money to pay off his wife’s funeral from a couple of years ago, and tip the waitress who helped him.
Allen Hamilton of Eugene won the largest Keno 8-spot rolling jackpot in Oregon Lottery history earlier this year, raking in $154,299 in April.
During the 2015-17 biennium in Marion County, where Osborne lives and played Keno, lottery officials said more than $55 million in Oregon Lottery proceeds were directed to economic development, parks, education, and watershed enhancement.
For more information, go to https://www.oregonlottery.org/ or call 503-540-1000.
Contact reporter Natalie Pate at npate@StatesmanJournal.com, 503-399-6745 or follow her on Twitter @Nataliempate or Facebook at www.Facebook.com/nataliepatejournalist.
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