Lottery Ticket Tip Lands Bartender $17,500

A bartender in Oregon won $17,500 on the lottery, after a customer decided to tip her using a winning ticket.

25-year-old Aurora Kephart, who works at Conway’s Restaurant and Lounge in Springfield, Oregon, claims that a patron handed her two Keno tickets rather than tipping her with actual money.

While working her shift on Tuesday evening, the man showed Ms Kephart several lottery tickets and then told her that she could select two.

After making her selection Ms Kephart then checked to see what numbers had been called, and while she was pleased that her first ticket was worth $5, she broke out into hysterics when she learned that her second ticket allowed her to pick up $17,500.

However, she was then overcome with guilt and immediately offered the ticket back to the man, who understandably wishes to remain anonymous.

The bartender stated “The look on his face was incredible. I automatically handed it back to him; it was his ticket.”

But the man stuck to his principles and insisted that it was now Ms Kephart’s ticket. He refused to reclaim the ticket and then even made her sign her name on it, which meant that she was now the only person who could claim the prize.

The reaction in the bar, which is usually filled with the same customers, was “crazy.”

Ever the professional, Ms Kephart decided to finish her shift at the bar before heading over to pick up her prize at the Oregon Lottery office, which is based in Salem.

She also decided to give the man a percentage of the sum, stating that she “just couldn’t not give him some of it.”

Ms Kephart now plans to save some of the money, but not before buying a new couch, admitting that she had “never realised how expensive couches were.”

[Image via wawritto/Shutterstock]