Homeless Man, Dennis Mahurin, Wins $50,000 Lottery Ticket, Plans To Share Winnings With Others

Dennis Mahurin spent some of the last money he had to buy a scratch-off ticket -- and it paid off.

The 59-year-old homeless man, who has been living in a tent for more than two decades, won $50,000, ABC News reports.

Mahurin purchased the $3 winning ticket at a Bloomington, Ill., gas station and scratched it off in his tent. When he returned to the Circle K gas station and the clerk said he won, Mahurin was in complete shock.

"He couldn't wrap his mind around it," Greg Davis, a church pastor who witnessed Mahurin’s win, told the Chicago Tribune. "All he kept saying is 'Wow. Wow.'"

In order to receive his winnings, Mahurin had to leave an address to send the check. Since he doesn’t have a home, Illinois State Lottery spokesman Mike Lang said Mahurin had the check sent to a friend’s house, the news outlet reports.

After taxes, Mahurin will receive $35,000. And he already has plans on how to spend his winnings.

"With all the other homeless people around here, I've made up my mind,” Mahurin told CINewsNow. “I'm gonna give them each $100."

He also has plans to buy a trailer home and visit his grandchildren, ABC News reports.

This isn’t Mahurin’s first time hitting the jackpot. He’s won two $1,000 scratch-off tickets before -- purchased at the same Circle K gas station, Sandra Ranking, the manager of the gas station told the Tribune.

“It’s quite exciting, when I got the phone call I was jumping up and down and mostly it was because of who it went to,” Rankin said. “He is a great guy, has an awesome sense of humor. I care deeply for him and he is a very decent gentleman.”