scratching a lottery ticket with a coin
Mayukh Saha
Mayukh Saha
March 7, 2024 ·  3 min read

Man Wins $1 Million Lottery Prize After Person Cut In Front Of Him

A lottery is all about having a good hand while your fortune smiles at you. And when you get some added supernatural help, things get even smoother. This is what exactly happened to Stephen Munoz Espinoza of Delray Beach, Florida. When a stranger cut in front of him, he was in line to buy a lottery ticket.

He could have made a ruckus and got his legitimate place, but he decided to exercise restraint- and at the end of the day, he came out the winner. According to a Florida Lottery press release, the 43-year-old winner said, “It was the end of a long day, and I was tired. Instead of saying something, I decided I’d just buy a ticket at the counter instead.” Finally, his cool-headed disposition worked in his favor as he won the $1 million prize at the 500X THE CASH Scratch-Off game. 

A Cool Head Leads To A Lottery Win Worth $1 million

According to official sources, Munoz Espinoza went to the Lottery Headquarters in Tallahassee on the 25th of January to collect his prize. He chose to take the winnings as a one-time, lumpsum payment of $820,000. He and his wife have plans to purchase a home for the family. Speaking about his big win, the man himself stated, “I can’t believe I won a million dollars!” Espinoza’s miraculous victory spells fortune for the grocery store, where he made this purchase. The Delray Beach Publix Location will be awarded a bonus commission of $2,000 for selling this ticket. [1]

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Read: A $100,000 lottery winner decided to buy more tickets to celebrate her prize— she won another $300,000

If you think that’s as far as it goes when it comes to getting dealt a good hand, you are sorely mistaken. In October 2022, a man from Ontario, Canada won a lottery worth $1 million, just 13 months after he had already chalked up another lottery million. The OLG, or the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation, stated that Antoine Beaini from Milton had won the elusive prize money on the 23rd of September. Speaking about this win, Beaini stated, “I was also at the prize center in August 2021 to pick up the $1 million prize. I couldn’t believe it. I thought ‘Again?

It was more shocking than the first win. Needless to say, his wife was also quite elated with this information. Later, he mentioned that he wanted to ensure the comfort and stability of his family and the next generation. [2]

Fortune Works In Mysterious Ways

In another scenario, a mistake by a cashier worked in favor of Josh Buster of West Burlington, Iowa. A printing mistake at a convenience store was simply a stroke of luck as it earned him a sum of $1 million. Recalling this incident which took place the previous year, Buster mentioned, “I got up to go to work early in the morning. I opened up the lottery app and scanned my tickets. I always keep my tickets in the console of my car. And I scanned it in the car and freaked out and ran back inside.” Buster secured a nice nest egg of $1 million of the $20 million that the jackpot had- which also matched the five numbers in the winning pick. [3]

Finally, and this was the biggest of the lot, a woman in California couldn’t believe her luck when an accident led to her winning a whopping $10 million. LaQuedra Edwards was simply selecting lottery tickets at a vending machine in Los Angeles County, California, in the November of 2021, when a man bumped into her, leading to her pressing the wrong button. As it turned out, she had purchased just a single ticket for $30 rather than purchasing several other cheaper versions. But this annoyance didn’t last long, for when she returned to her car to scratch the lottery ticket- she discovered that she had won this life-changing sum. “I didn’t really believe it at first, but I got on the 405 freeway and kept looking down at (the ticket), and I almost crashed my car.”[4]

Keep Reading: Teenager Wins $600,000+ With Lottery Ticket Gifted By A Friend

Sources

  1. Today
  2. Global News
  3. Entrepreneur
  4. Global News