FOND DU LAC, Wis. — Running a quick errand for his wife really paid off for a Fond du Lac man. He’s $107,000 richer after he made an impulse purchase — a winning lottery ticket.
Joseph Bednarek’s wife asked him to pick up hot dogs. While he was at Pick ‘N Save, located on Pioneer Road in Fond du Lac, he saw a sign he couldn’t get past. It said the Badger 5 was up to $96,000.
Luck has been following the Bednareks ever since they met.
“And I said ‘what if I could get us married by the tribal chief?’ And he says, ‘I don’t think they do that.’ I said, ‘watch me,'” laughed Ellen Bednarek, lottery winner.
Twenty-one years later, luck is still with them, even on the most mundane grocery store runs.
“So I came out and said, ‘could you maybe please get me some hot dogs?'” said Ellen Bednarek.
At the store, a sign at the service desk caught Joseph’s eye.
“And I looked, I backed up and saw $96,000. All I had left was a $10 bill. Normally I buy five and I went there and, ‘oh well, give me $10 worth,'” said Joseph Bednarek.
“I don’t know why I did it. Because it was in the 90-some thousands,” Bednarek said.
The most Bednarek’s ever won in a lottery is $400.
“I just kept looking at it. What did I do wrong? Did I write them down wrong? I called up two or three times, the lottery hotline, they give you all the numbers,” said Joseph Bednarek.
“He called me in and then I looked at the numbers and I go, ‘these match,'” said Ellen.
The two say they’ll use the money to pay off their camper and put a new roof on their house.
“The rest of the few thousand we’ll probably fill up our gas tank 10 times. That’ll be it,” laughed Joseph.
The Badger 5 jackpot has now gone down to $10,000.
