Lottery player finds lost winning ticket — thanks to family cat. ‘A miracle'
Looking 'for some superstitious fun' on Friday, June 13, Russell Ruff of Somers bought a Powerball ticket for the drawing the next day, Connecticut Lottery officials said in a July 7 news release.
The ticket, though, vanished.
'We lost the ticket at home,' Ruff told lottery officials. 'It went behind a headboard.'
The family didn't check the numbers for the Powerball drawing and life went on.
But then, by a twist of fate, the family's 16-year-old cat 'somehow made its way behind a bed,' lottery officials said.
To reach the cat, Ruff and his sons moved the bed.
'In the process, they found the cat—and the ticket,' lottery officials said.
Ruff scanned the ticket, then rescanned it 'just to be sure' and learned he had won $150,000 on the 'long-lost ticket,' lottery officials said.
'It was a miracle,' the school bus driver said.
Ruff missed the jackpot by one number, matching four of the five white balls and the Powerball, lottery officials said.
'His prize increased from $50,000 to $150,000,' as he added a Power Play option, lottery officials said.
Somers is about an 80-mile drive northeast from Bridgeport.
What to know about Powerball
To score the jackpot in the Powerball, a player must match all five white balls and the red Powerball.
The odds of scoring the jackpot prize are 1 in 292,201,338.
Tickets can be bought on the day of the drawing, but sales times and price vary by state.
Drawings are broadcast Saturdays, Mondays and Wednesdays at 10:59 p.m. ET and can be streamed online.
Powerball is played in 45 states, Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
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