A woman from the American state of Ohio has become an overnight millionaire thanks to a mistake at the checkout. Although she actually wanted to buy a completely different ticket, she decided to keep the wrong ticket. With success: the blunder earned her the jackpot of more than 1.8 million dollars.
Source: AD.nl
The resident of Springfield, Ohio, regularly bought the same ticket for the same lottery. This time too, she wanted to go for her usual choice. But a $20 EZPLAY Jackpot USA ticket rolled out of the machine. Not what she wanted.
Superstition pays off
But the woman didn’t think twice. According to the Ohio Lottery, the woman had recently read stories about people who won big prizes with ‘wrong’ tickets. Fearing that exchanging the ticket would ruin her karma or chances of winning, she decided to pay for the accidentally printed ticket.
That turned out to be a golden inspiration. When she checked the ticket, the top prize was staring at her: $1,852,212 (about 1.7 million euros).
Panic at the check
Yet after the initial euphoria there was a brief moment of panic. When she asked the bar’s employees to scan the lot for confirmation, they repeatedly received an error message on their system. Doubt set in: was the fate valid? Was it a system error?
The winner was not fooled. She kept the ticket for a few days and then drove to the Ohio Lottery regional office. Only then did she really believe what had happened. She was given the redeeming word: she is officially a millionaire.
Mortgage and pension
After deducting the hefty American taxes, the woman is left with a net amount of about 1.35 million dollars. She has no intention of throwing the money away straight away. The plans are relatively modest. The woman first wants to pay off her mortgage, car loan and outstanding medical bills. She has now hired a financial advisor for the rest of the amount to invest it smartly for her future.