Thank goodness that lottery tickets don’t expire because the woman in this story forgot about her $135,000 lottery ticket for months.
It wasn’t until her husband prompted her that she searched for the ticket and learned that she had won the said amount. The woman was dumbfounded by the realization that she had been sitting on a gold mine for the past few months.
Tales of a Long-lost Ticket
News of the forlorn winnings went viral after lottery officials recounted the story of the woman who won a lottery but forgot about it.
The woman is a mom and professional electrician who lives in the Lynwood suburb of Washington. She bought the winning lottery ticket from Fred Meyers in her neighborhood while shopping for dinner groceries.
Just Another Evening Buying Groceries
In their February 22 statement, lottery officials explained that the lucky mom bought a Hit 5 game ticket from the lottery vending machine at the Fred Meyers outlet.
The Hit 5 game is relatively straightforward but a bit tricky. The player gets to pick five numbers between 1 and 42, with each pick costing the player $1.
There Are Several Ways To Make a Buck
However, if a player is unsure which numbers to pick, there are other options. They may use the Quick Pick feature, which involves a computer picking five random numbers on their behalf.
The number of picks that match the winning ball combination, the higher the player’s win.
$135,000 Rich All Along
The winning balls for the game were drawn, months passed, and the woman had forgotten that she even bought lottery tickets from the vending machine.
Then, her husband seemed to have stumbled on the ticket and nudged his wife to look it up. The woman obliged and returned the ticket to the vending machine for the scan.
Goodbye to Petty Debts
It was an electrifying moment at the vending machine when the woman, simply identified as M.B., realized she had won $135,000!
She printed the confirmation receipt and drove back home to inform her family about the unprecedented win. However, M.B. had to take her confirmation receipt to the Lottery Regional Office to claim her winnings.