A textual content from a buddy reminding Michael Chavez to verify his lottery ticket not too long ago 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 stated he’d forgotten to inform his workers he wouldn’t be on the workplace, and his co-worker joked that he knew the rationale for his absence, sending him a screenshot of the Mega Thousands and thousands outcomes from the California Lottery web site,” lottery officers stated 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 consider my eyes. I’m so excited and intensely grateful,” Chavez stated. “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 profitable ticket price $300,000.
The 49-year-old from Greeley offered the profitable scratch-off ticket and was paid $213,000 after taxes. He even posed with a customary outsized verify and for a winner’s photograph.
Nonetheless, 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.
Virtually $129,000 of the winnings had been later seized from an space financial institution by authorities, who discovered that he’d already spent greater than $84,000.
Successful Ticket Discovered In Bible
In January, a $1 million Virginia lottery win might have included some divine intervention. Jacqueline Mangus not too long ago purchased a ticket at a deli within the metropolis of Moneta, selecting to stash it in her bible for protected conserving. (Maybe within the e book of Numbers?)
Whereas watching the information later, a report stated {that a} winner had been bought in Moneta, which reminded Mangus to verify her ticket. The brand new millionaire stated she was “tickled to loss of life” with the revelation of her success.
Dad Present Pays Off
In Michigan, a lotto reward from a father actually paid some dividends for a 26-year-old Oakland County lady.
“I used to be shocked when he handed it to me,” she stated. “He stated it was a ‘simply because reward,’ which I believed was very nice of him. Once I scratched the ticket off, I used to be shocked to see that it was a $4 million winner. I had so many feelings going via my physique. I screamed. I cried.”
Lotteries are authorized in 45 states, plus the Distric of Columbia and Puerto Rico. Though there isn’t a official nationwide lottery, each Mega Thousands and thousands and Powerball are supplied in practically each jurisdiction. In 2023, Individuals spent greater than $113.3 billion in lottery gross sales.
A lottery winner even made some headlines within the poker world not too long ago. Akbar Zamani received the World Collection of Poker Circuit Thunder Valley most important occasion in January after scoring about $500,000 within the lottery just a few years in the past.
