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UPI
a day ago
- General
- UPI
5 lottery near-misses where big prizes were almost lost forever
June 27 (UPI) -- Lottery players buy their tickets dreaming of the big one, but sometimes even tickets that earn big prizes can end up lost, forgotten or even thrown in the trash. Here are five times winning lottery tickets with major prizes nearly failed to find their way to a claims center. In a file container A Calvert County, Md., man bought a six-board ticket for the July 12, 2024, Bonus Match 5 drawing, but when he thought to check whether it was a winner, he discovered the ticket was nowhere to be found. He ended up locating the ticket in a file container months later, and discovered one of his lines had scored a $500,000 prize, and another had netted him an additional $400. He was able to claim his prize with just days to spare before it would have expired. In the car Another ticket that went missing for several months was an August 2024 Powerball ticket purchased by a Jonesboro, Ark., woman named Tracy H. The player told lottery officials the ticket went missing before she could even check if it was a winner. Tracy ended up finding the ticket in her vehicle in February, and was able to claim a $100,000 prize shortly before the 180-day expiration period. The ticket hoarder A Prince George's County, Md., man claimed a $50,000 Pick 5 prize with less than a week to spare before it expired, but he said the ticket hadn't been forgotten or misplaced, sharing how: "I just wanted to hold on to it. But, I'll tell you I sure was excited about it." The win even came as a surprise to the player's wife, who wasn't told of her husband's luck until the day before he claimed his prize in February. Under the furniture A Nottingham, Md., man told Maryland Lottery officials he was helping his mother move furniture at her house when he discovered a stack of scratch-off tickets that she had intended to give as stocking stuffers months earlier. The man's mother told him to go ahead and take the tickets home, with the understanding that they would split any winners. The duo ended up sharing a $50,000 prize from a $5 Holiday Luck Doubler ticket -- as well as smaller prizes of $6 and $15. In the trash Shepherdsville resident Pamela Howard-Thorton told Kentucky Lottery officials she bought four $5 Flamingo Bingo scratch-off tickets, but found after tossing out three non-winners that her fourth ticket was missing. "I looked in the trash and I was like, 'Oh, my gosh, I threw it away,'" she said, adding that the ticket rescued from the garbage can turned out to be an $80,000 winner.
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Miami Herald
07-04-2025
- General
- Miami Herald
Son moving furniture for mom finds months-old lotto tickets. One was big winner
A son moving furniture for his mom found five scratch-off tickets that never made it into Christmas stockings — and one of them was a $50,000 winner, Maryland officials said. Now the mother-son duo are splitting the windfall, the Maryland Lottery said in an April 7 news release. The five scratch-offs 'were part of a larger cache of tickets the mom had purchased as stocking stuffers for her adult children,' lottery officials said. When the son stumbled upon them, he asked his mom if he could scratch them off, lottery officials said. They agreed to split any winnings. 'The son actually didn't scratch the tickets at his mom's house, but later on with his wife. They were in disbelief after scratching and seeing matching numbers over the game's $50,000 top prize,' according to lottery officials, who said the winning ticket was a $5 Holiday Luck Doubler from a liquor store in Nottingham. The son's wife thought, 'Did that really just happen?' after the win was revealed, according to lottery officials. The son even 'called his mom and asked if it was a prank ticket,' lottery officials said. But 'it was not, as was confirmed when the trio visited Lottery headquarters,' according to lottery officials. The son will save and pay off debt to his mom with his portion, while the mom will share with other family members, lottery officials said. Of the four remaining tickets found, two weren't winners and two combined for $21 won, lottery officials said. Nottingham is about a 20-mile drive northeast from Baltimore.
Miami Herald
27-01-2025
- General
- Miami Herald
Lottery ticket given as birthday gift was a letdown — until woman finished scratching
'One heck of an astonishing gift' left a Maryland woman with a birthday she'll never forget. The Baltimore woman was celebrating her birthday and nearly the 'whole family was there,' she told Maryland Lottery officials in a Jan. 27 news release. But one relative was missing. 'Just minutes away,' the relative was making a quick stop to buy a lottery ticket as a birthday gift, lottery officials said. When the whole family was present, 'it was time to open gifts,' and the woman came across the $5 Holiday Luck Doubler, lottery officials said. Slowly, she scratched the ticket. 'As I was finishing it, I was disappointed because there were no matches,' she told lottery officials. But then, as she was scratching the last line of the ticket, she noticed a big win. 'Everyone went crazy when I told them I'd won $50,000,' the winner said. 'They all wanted to see it and touch it. It was the most hugs I've ever gotten.' The ticket was finally returned to the woman, who 'whispered a prayer of thanks.' 'It's a day I'll never forget,' she told lottery officials.
