I think we’ve all fantasized about winning the lottery. Not only might you have imagined what you’d buy first if you won a big sum of cash, but you probably came up with scenarios in your head regarding what you’d do shortly after finding out about your winnings. Would you scream in excitement? Would you immediately tell your closest family and friends? Would you keep hush-hush and not tell a single soul?
But what about…throwing away your winning ticket? That’s certainly not something you’d want to do after discovering your big win. But one man in Newberry, South Carolina did exactly that by mistake to his lucky lottery ticket whose grand prize total was $100,000!
How on Earth did he accidentally throw away the winning ticket? Great question.
The anonymous man explained that he threw away his Palmetto Cash 5 ticket when he mistakenly read the winning numbers from the previous day. Seeing that the day’s numbers weren’t a match, he trashed the supposed “loser” ticket. Then the next day when the January 24th winning numbers – 9, 15, 25, 27, and 30 – were announced, that’s when the man realized the mistake that he made.
Fortunately, his ticket was just a quick dig out of the trash, and he was able to redeem his winnings!
“I couldn’t believe it,” the lottery winner said.
So, what does the man plan to do with his fortunes? He said he’ll be setting up college funds for his grandchildren. As for the rest of the money, it’ll be donated to charity. What a generous fella!
But just imagine: if the man had thrown the ticket away in a public trashcan or even tossed it in his outdoor bin for the trashman to pick up, he may have not been so lucky. Not only was there a 1 in 501,942 chance of winning the particular lotto he played, but the fact that he accidentally threw it away not knowing it was a winner, later came to the realization of the mistake he made, and was physically able to retrieve the ticket from the trashcan before it was taken to a landfill makes the odds even slimmer! That was a very close call.
Take a lesson from the anonymous winner, and don’t be so quick to toss out your lottery tickets. Always double-check to make sure that you’re looking at the right day’s winning numbers when checking your ticket and when the winning numbers are announced that you’re looking at the right ticket.
Believe it or not, this actually happens more than one might think. Here’s an incredible story that happened to this couple a few years ago:
