South Shore Woman Claims Dakota Cash Jackpot

(Pierre) – Kari Lee of South Shore is the winner of the $72,625 Dakota Cash jackpot.  Lee and her husband LaVern today claimed the prize they won in the Wednesday, August 1 drawing.

Lee checked the winning numbers on the Lottery’s website on Wednesday night.  She and her husband were left speechless when they discovered they’d won.  “There was a little bit of tears,” she said.  “We were stunned and wondered what to do next.”

Lee sent an email to the Lottery around midnight asking what to do.  The email, in all capital letters, contained 31 exclamation points.

She followed up with a phone call shortly after the Lottery office opened at 8:00 a.m. Thursday morning.  The couple hadn’t gotten much sleep in between.  “We’ve been up most of the night looking at the ticket, taking pictures of the ticket, and looking at the ticket some more,” she said.

The Lees traveled to Sioux Falls Thursday to claim the prize.  It was Kari’s day off from her job at Premier Bankcard, and LaVern took the day off from his job at Telelect to accompany her.

The winning ticket was purchased at the Cowboy Country Store on 4^th Street NE in Watertown.  The store will receive a $3,631 bonus for selling the lucky “quick pick” ticket.