Oregon bartender gets $17,500 tip when Keno ticket pays off

SPRINGFIELD, Ore., Oct. 5 (UPI) -- A 25-year-old bartender in Oregon says she lucked out this week when one of two Keno tickets a patron gave her as a tip paid off to the tune of $17,500.

Aurora Kephart, who tends bar at Conway's Restaurant and Lounge in Springfield, told The (Eugene) Register-Guard, a male patron showed her a handful of Keno tickets Tuesday evening and told her to chose two. She said the first one paid $5 and the second one provided the big tip.

"The look on his face was incredible," Kephart said. "I automatically handed it back to him; it was his ticket."

But the man, who is remaining anonymous, refused to take it back, making sure she signed the ticket so she would be the only one who could collect the prize.

"The reaction [in the bar] was crazy," she said. "Everyone was so amped up. I mean how often does that happen somewhere like Thurston?

"The bar is 80 percent regulars, so everyone knows everyone. People were so excited for me."

Kephart said she gave her benefactor part of her winnings.

"I just couldn't not give him some of it," she said.

Kephart said she's treating herself to a new couch and banking the rest.