The Great Smoky Mountain Journal

Staff, Wire Reports

Posted: Sunday, January 21, 2018 07:31 PM

Arkansas Waitress Says Co-Working Ran Off With Half Of Her $300K Winnings From Scatch-Off Ticket

An Arkansas waitress claimed her co-worker ran off with her half of $300,000 winnings from a scratch-off ticket.

Leslie Underwood, a waitress at Sportsmans Drive-In, located in Stuttgart, Ark., said her co-worker Mandy Vanhouten owes her some cash.

"It was kind of like somebody died for somebody to tell you that they don't think you deserve it and their decision has been made," Underwood told KARK.

The waitresses were given the scratch-off tickets from their boss on Friday as a gift but told his employees that whatever they won would be split as a Christmas bonus, Underwood said.

Underwood and Vanhouten split their pile of tickets and one turned out to be lucky. Vanhouten won $300,000 on a Fortune instant ticket – the top jackpot. The women were to each receive $150,000 since they worked the same shift.

"We were both reading the back of it trying to find the little, 'You're pranked!'" Underwood said. "But no, it was a real one."

Underwood said she and Vanhouten discussed what they would do with the winnings but the talks were demolished after the waitress saw her co-worker had cashed in the ticket on Wednesday. Underwood was planning to take her children on a trip with the money.

“It’s a little emotional,” the mother of five told KARK.