A Salina man has claimed a $10,000 lottery prize.

According to the Kansas Lottery, Curtis Allman of Salina made the trip to Topeka this week to claim his $10,000 prize he won playing the $20 Kansas Lucky Diamonds instant scratch game. It may not have been a top prize winner in the Lucky Diamonds game, but it was enough to have Mr. Allman restless with excitement all weekend long.

“I bought four or five of the $20 Kansas Lucky Diamonds tickets and took them out to my truck to scratch them off. The very first one I scratched was the big winner,” said Allman. “I looked at the prize, then at the number and did a double take. I couldn’t believe it!”

While Allman was definitely excited about his win, he wasn’t exactly thrilled with the timing. “I scratched the ticket after 5:00 p.m. last Friday, so I knew I was going to have to wait until Monday to come to Topeka to claim the ticket,” he said. “I signed the back of it, and went home and put it in a safe place. I probably checked on the ticket five or six times a day over the weekend as well!”

“Now that I’m here, it’s finally sunk in that I won,” Allman said. “The prize money is going to get me practically debt free, which is an incredible feeling to get that weight off my back. It’s truly a blessing.”

The winning ticket was sold at the Casey’s General Store 2849 on 215 West Crawford Street in Salina. There are still four $100,000 top prizes and 10 $10,000 prizes left in the $20 Kansas Lucky Diamonds instant scratch game.