Some folks just are really lucky, even if they didn't intend to. Today's story has an Illinois man as its protagonist. While he was grocery shopping in a local supermarket, the man decided to buy a lottery ticket. Unfortunately, the lottery machine malfunctioned, getting stuck on a Lotto game. He bought the ticket regardless, which ended up with him landing $9.2 million.
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"It was a normal day, just like any other," said the man in a press release, obtained by PEOPLE. "I was picking up groceries at Jewel and on my way out the door, I decided to buy a lottery ticket." Jewel-Osco is a local Chicago supermarket chain founded in 1899. However, when he attempted to buy a ticket for a game, the machine selected a Lotto game instead.
"I was a bit frustrated," the man said. "I said, 'What is going on? The machine won't give me the right game! So, I decided I may as well buy the Lotto ticket." He later picked six numbers: 2-15-21-29-42-44. Thinking nothing off it, the man got back home and he hold onto the ticket for a month.
A Millionaire Via Malfunction
The winning numbers were then reveled on August 24, but the man was oblivious to it. He would later find out that the malfunction made him extremely rich.
"The morning after the drawing, I scanned the ticket at a machine to check if it was a winner. When the machine showed the $9.2 million prize amount, I couldn't believe it!" said the man, completely ecstatic about finding out he was now a millionaire. "I looked at my wife and she was completely speechless."
The man's prize was the second largest Lotto jackpot in 2024. It comes second to a February jackpot won by another player who won $10.4 million after purchasing a ticket in Park Ridge, Illinois.
"We are laughing over how angry I was at the broken machine - and we're so grateful for how it all turned out," the man said, feeling lucky that the machine decided to malfunction in a very lucky turn of events.
The anonymous Lotto winner was later named as the "Lucky Lotto Winner." The Jewel-Osco where the ticket was bought received as 92,000 check for selling the winning ticket.
