Up until very recently, the most Kathleen McCarty had ever won in a Maine state-sponsored lottery was $10.

After years of playing Megabucks and Powerball, that all changed earlier this month when the 57-year-old from Casco learned she was the winner of the Maine State Lottery’s first ever “Tiny Homes, Big Wins” scratch ticket game that ran last Oct. 22 through Dec. 2.





McCarty won by entering a non-winning Powerball ticket into a special drawing as part of the promotion for a chance to win the tiny house, a new Ford F-350 truck, $3,000 in cash and all state and federal withholding taxes paid. The total prize value is $87,143.

“I entered just because I sometimes enter the second chance drawings, never thinking I would win,” McCarty said on Wednesday. “So I added my lottery ticket numbers and never thought another thing of it.”

The news she had won literally brought McCarty to tears.

“I was floored,” she said. “I can say I started to cry.”

Part of the shock came from the realization that had no clue what to do with her new tiny home and large truck, which she has since decided to sell. Her prizes are due to be delivered from Augusta on Thursday.

“I have had some offers even before I saw them,” said McCarty, who works at Auto Europe LLC in Portland. “I plan to use the truck to get into a newer SUV and then with the sale of the home and extra from the truck, put some money down on my mortgage and into my savings.”

McCarty said she has not followed the tiny house movement currently sweeping the country, but is familiar with the concept.

There is no unified building code or legal definition of a “tiny house,” but a residential structure under 500 square feet is generally accepted to be a tiny home, according to various online groups advocating the simplified lifestyle.

Mainers have a second chance to win a tiny home with a second winning ticket set to be drawn April 10.

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