Wheel Of Fortune© Grand Prize Winners Announced

June 28, 2010

The $250,000 grand prize winner from the West Virginia Lottery’s last Wheel of Fortune© drawing held Friday (June 25) was Rex Williams of Artie in Boone County, according to Lottery Director John Musgrave.

In addition, he said the two winners of trip packages to Hollywood for Wheel of Fortune© auditions were Darlene Smith of Ripley and Bernard Henson of Charleston.

A miner for Marfork Coal, Williams said the timing couldn’t have been more perfect. “We’ll be able to pay off our home mortgage and tend to most all our bills.” He and his wife have two grown children and four grandchildren.

Equally enthused, Smith and Henson said Wheel of Fortune© is one of their favorite game shows. Smith is manager for Duke Oil on Duke Road in Ripley; Henson is retired from the WV Dept. of Highways.

Held today in Charleston, the drawing was the final in a series of monthly events that lottery officials announced in January to help celebrate the agency’s 24th Anniversary. The promotion offered players five monthly $10,000 prizes and today’s grand prizes. Musgrave said the trip winners have up to one year to schedule them.

Excluding the monthly $10,000 winning entries, every entry received since Jan. was included in the grand prize drawing, according to Musgrave.

The $10,000 monthly winners included Paul Russell and Debra Hull of Buckhannon, David Hunley of Hurricane, Taew Smith of Lorado, and Bob Bennett of Hurricane.