A textual content from a pal reminding Michael Chavez to test his lottery ticket lately led to a seven-figure payday for the California participant.
When Chavez didn’t present up for work, a colleague texted him, joking that he should not have made it in as a result of he’d received the Mega Thousands and thousands drawing on Nov. 5. Because it seems, he was proper.
“Chavez mentioned he’d forgotten to inform his employees he wouldn’t be on the workplace, and his co-worker joked that he knew the explanation for his absence, sending him a screenshot of the Mega Thousands and thousands outcomes from the California Lottery web site,” lottery officers mentioned final week.
After having a look, Chavez realized he’d picked 5 of the six numbers, hitting a jackpot of greater than $1.2 million.
“I couldn’t imagine my eyes. I’m so excited and intensely grateful,” Chavez mentioned. “I’ll always remember… that textual content.”
Lottery Theft
However Chavez was removed from the one intriguing story to emerge from the world of state lotteries. Prosecutors in Lancaster County in Nebraska have charged Jeremiah Ehlers with stealing a successful ticket price $300,000.
The 49-year-old from Greeley offered the successful scratch-off ticket and was paid $213,000 after taxes. He even posed with a customary outsized test and for a winner’s picture.
Nevertheless, police allege that safety video reveals that he stole lottery tickets from the comfort retailer the place he labored. The corporate that owns the shop contacted lottery officers in April 2024 and famous that Ehlers tried to validate the ticket earlier than buying it.
Nearly $129,000 of the winnings have been later seized from an space financial institution by authorities, who discovered that he’d already spent greater than $84,000.
Profitable Ticket Discovered In Bible
In January, a $1 million Virginia lottery win could have included some divine intervention. Jacqueline Mangus lately purchased a ticket at a deli within the metropolis of Moneta, selecting to stash it in her bible for protected holding. (Maybe within the e-book of Numbers?)
Whereas watching the information later, a report mentioned {that a} winner had been offered in Moneta, which reminded Mangus to test her ticket. The brand new millionaire mentioned she was “tickled to demise” with the revelation of her luck.
Dad Present Pays Off
In Michigan, a lotto present from a father actually paid some dividends for a 26-year-old Oakland County girl.
“I used to be shocked when he handed it to me,” she mentioned. “He mentioned it was a ‘simply because present,’ which I believed was very nice of him. Once I scratched the ticket off, I used to be surprised to see that it was a $4 million winner. I had so many feelings going by means of my physique. I screamed. I cried.”
Lotteries are authorized in 45 states, plus the Distric of Columbia and Puerto Rico. Though there isn’t any official nationwide lottery, each Mega Thousands and thousands and Powerball are provided in almost each jurisdiction. In 2023, People spent greater than $113.3 billion in lottery gross sales.
A lottery winner even made some headlines within the poker world lately. Akbar Zamani won the World Series of Poker Circuit Thunder Valley main event in January after scoring about $500,000 within the lottery a couple of years in the past.
Trending Merchandise
