Jefferson City Couple Wins $250,000 Top lotto Prize

09/24/2007 Jefferson City Couple Wins $250,000 Top lotto Prize

When Todd Bollinger of Jefferson City received a phone call at work on Sept. 21 from his wife, Jackie, he thought she had wrecked the car, but when she finally managed to tell him that she had just won $250,000, he couldn’t believe it. Jackie Bollinger stopped for gas at Mr. Convenience, 230 E. McCarty in Jefferson City, to buy gas and decided to buy a Missouri Lottery "$250,000 Mega Cash" Scratchers ticket. That decision paid off big when she won the game’s top prize.

"I freaked out," Jackie Bollinger, 38, said about her reaction after scratching the winning ticket. "I took off. I had already paid for my gas. I called my husband, and I called my mom on her cell phone."

Todd Bollinger said he had a hard time believing that his wife had really won a quarter of a million dollars.

"When she called, she said, ’Just be calm. You’re going to be mad,’" Todd Bollinger said. "I thought she wrecked the car, and I thought, ’Don’t tell me something happened to the car. Then all of a sudden she said, ’I won.’ I said, ’Okay you won.’ Then she said, ’I won 250.’ Our phones aren’t the greatest, and one of them cut out. I said, ’Okay, you won $250,’ and then she said, ’Thousand!’ and I said, ’Do what?’"

The Bollingers said they plan to use their winnings to pay bills, maybe take a little vacation, make some investments and share some with family members.