A group of 17 Barton 1792 Distillery workers carpooled to the Kentucky Lottery after work on Tuesday, March 25, 2025 – entering the lobby with a $50,000 winning Powerball ticket they purchased at the Bardstown Walmart as part of their weekly office pool.
For over a year, each member of the group has been paying into the office pool and having co-worker Chris Smith, of Bardstown, purchase tickets for the three weekly Powerball drawings.
“We all play the lottery; every week I go around, I collect money from everybody, and we got a little pool going,” Smith said. “Usually we’ll win, like, four bucks or eight bucks. Once we won $100. This weekend we won $50,000, which is a pretty good little payout for everybody.”
Smith bought the winning ticket on Friday, March 21, 2025, and when he scanned it after Saturday night’s drawing, he said it felt “kind of scary.”
“I scanned it on the machine; $50,000 showed up, and the first thing I do is look and see who is behind me. Anybody see that?” Smith joked. “It felt pretty nice, you know? And then I took it home and scanned it on my phone just to make sure it read the same, and it did, and I was like, okay.”
Smith said one of his coworkers sent him a Kentucky Lottery Facebook post about a winning Powerball ticket sold in Bardstown.
“And I was like, it’s got to be real,” Smith said.
Smith said he usually buys the group’s tickets each week at a local Bardstown convenience store but decided to make the purchase Friday, March 21, 2025, while grocery shopping at Walmart, 3795 East Rowan Blvd., Bardstown, KY 40004.
The group’s winning ticket matched four white ball winning numbers and the Powerball®, winning $50,000 from the drawing held Saturday, March 22, 2025. The winning Powerball numbers were: 6 – 7 – 25 – 46 – 57 Powerball 12.
Kentucky Lottery President and CEO Mary Harville greeted the group with a $50,000 ceremonial check, taking photos with them until she had the honor of handing each winner their individual prize – $2,941 after taxes.
“The Kentucky Lottery’s mission is funding education and creating fun games and an amazing winner experience in our Winners Experience Lobby.” Harville said. “You could tell these winners were a tight-knit group and truly enjoyed being around each other because they were laughing and joking with one another while we were printing their checks.”
The group works first shift at Barton 1792 bottling bourbon and have worked together for several years, with the longest tenured member of the group having been there for 45 years.
Smith said he and his co-workers started the office pool when the Powerball® jackpot rolled to over a billion dollars a year ago.
“We just kept it going and we’ll keep it going,” he said. Walmart in Bardstown will receive $500 for selling the winning ticket.
In 2024, the Kentucky Lottery paid out more than $1.5 billion in prizes. Since 1999, Kentucky Lottery proceeds have funded scholarships and grants for more than 1 million Kentucky college students.
