Morning Buzz: Lotto winner loses… then wins
Imagine you have a winning ticket for a multi-million dollar lottery. Then, imagine you lose that ticket before you cash it in!The New York Post reports that’s what happened to Degli Martinez, a 55 year old maintenance worker from Queens. He had the winning ticket for a $65 million jackpot in the New York State lottery, he went to the store where he bought it and got a receipt… but before he could take it to the lotto offices, he accidentally tossed the ticket in the trash! He still had the receipt and lottery officials confirmed the winning ticket was bought at that store. But, Martinez had to wait a year because whoever turned in the actual ticket would be entitled to the winnings, by law… and officials needed to wait a year to see if someone else turned it in. Finally, the 365-day deadline passed and Martinez was declared the winner. He chose a lump-sum payment of more than $21 million.
I can’t even imagine what it feels like to know you’ve just won a life-changing amount of money… and then you can’t claim it! I’m glad to see this story has a happy ending!
Posted by
on 07/21 at 02:57 AM
That would probably make me pull all my hair out and have mental breakdown. 1-year waiting seems a unreasonable to me. Who on earth would wait more than a few weeks at the most to claim the winning? That’s government for you.