Bigfork resident wins $30,000

Joseph Bednarczyk of Bigfork claimed a $30,000 Montana Cash jackpot on with a ticket purchased at Smith’s Food & Drug, 195 3rd Ave. EN in Kalispell Wednesday.

Bednarczyk said he and his wife purchase “The Works” every week, and they previously won a $1,300 prize. The $30,000 win came as a complete surprise to the couple. Bednarczyk’s wife was the first to know, as she stumbled across the numbers in the paper, double-checked them online and checked the numbers in the paper again. “I couldn’t believe it!” she said. “I still can’t believe it.”

Bednarczyk noted that they both recently retired, so this win came at the perfect time for them to enjoy it. The Bednarczyks plan to take a trip to Alaska to vacation and go gold-panning.

The Montana Cash jackpot for Wednesday’s drawing is $20,000.

The Montana Lottery was created by referendum in 1986. In the past 25 years it has paid out over $435 million to players in prizes and returned more than $197 million to the State of Montana.