Family Facing Eviction Discovers They Had $4.85 Million Lotto Ticket Sitting In A Cookie JarIllinois Man Takes Ticket To 7-Eleven, Becomes Millionaire |
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Facing eviction, an Illinois man discovered a lottery ticket in a cookie jar worth $4.85 million, the Chicago Tribune reported.
Ricardo Cerezo and his family reportedly were ordered by a judge to soon vacate their home because they couldn’t pay for it, and in a last ditch effort for some cash he went scrounging around for old lottery tickets that might have had some cash value. When he took them to a nearby 7-Eleven he discovered he was the winner of nearly $5 million.
“It couldn’t have happened at a better time,” the management consultant told the Chicago Tribune. “I just thought, this is how God works.”
Cerezo said that his wife told him that if he didn’t get the tickets from the cookie jar checked that day she was going to throw them in the trash. Fortunately for the family, $5 million didn’t find its way into the dumpster.
The first tickets weren’t winners, but then the 7-Eleven employee found one that awarded $3. “I was excited. I get to pay for my Pepsi,” Cerezo said. However, the next ticket scanned turned out to be for a massive seven-figure sum.
The winning ticket matched all six numbers from a Feb. 2 drawing.
“As each number kept matching, the smile kept going higher and higher. And when I realized we had all six numbers, it was that shocking moment of , ‘Whoa, can this really be?’” Cerezo reportedly said at a news conference last week. “Fast forward to the next day, Monday: Called in sick from work, went down into Chicago. It’s one of those feelings where it’s OK if they fire me.”
The family intends to pay off their home with the winnings.
For more news from Illinois, check out its state page.
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