Almost lost $100,000 prize
Four hours before her winning $100,000 lottery ticket was to expire, Karen Gentry of Alexandria showed up at a Virginia lottery center on Tuesday to claim her prize.
The winning numbers (6, 15, 18, 23, and 32) were announced May 2, and by Virginia law the prize money was set to expire at 5 p.m. Tuesday — 180 days after the drawing.
But Gentry hadn't checked her ticket.
She said she stashed it in a box in her kitchen after she bought it and hadn't thought about it until she heard news reports Tuesday that Virginia lottery officials were looking for the winner of the unclaimed prize as the 5 p.m. deadline drew near.
"So I looked, and there it was," Gentry told Virginia lottery officials, according to a news release issued by the agency. "I called my husband and he said, 'Yeah, right.'"
Gentry bought the ticket at a 7-11 convenience store in the 5800 block of North King Highway in Alexandria. She told lottery officials that she let the computer randomly select her numbers. She then put her ticket in the box.
"I always check the numbers, so I'm amazed I missed it," she said. Gentry said she works in carpet sales and had no immediate plans for her winnings. She showed up at a lottery customer service center in Woodbridge shortly before 1 p.m. to claim the money.
Virginia lottery officials said there has been more than $234 million in unclaimed prize money since 1988. The unclaimed money goes to Virginia's Literary Fund, which pays for technology upgrades in schools and teacher retirement funds.
Lucky lady. Just in time. Congrats.
Nice story, glad she found it.
Gentry almost lost out on a QP bonanza.
Rule of thumb: Never and l mean never discount a QP lottery ticket many a jackpot has been won with those. Glad she found hers.
..now where did l stash mine?
That's what you call cutting it close....congratulation Mrs. Gentry
John Wayne Bobbitt would tell you different!
She's very lucky she found the ticket. Congrats on her winning. Hope she puts the funds to good use.
Heh,heh,heh,heh,heh... Bless her heart... She's lyin'...
I should really get to work on my story in case I win.
It's gonna be a doozy!
I am holding on to my winning tickect just to see how long I can!!!!For real! that's my story and I am sticking 2 it LOL!!!!!
You're probably right, she didn't think winning $100,000 was luck enough she had make it seem she was even more lucky to discover she had won.
Old Chinese Proverb: "If you buy a ticket, check the ticket after the drawing as soon as possible."
Obviously she had never heard the story of Clarence Jackson Jr. who was 3 days late in turning in a ticket worth $5.8M back in 1996. He never got a penny. CT lottery refused to break the rules for him, as it should be.
Her story sounds fake, but the one l can't get over is the winning ticket being used as a " Christmas ornament on the tree"..until being discovered that it's worth something.
Give me a break.
Somethings are just unbelievable but true
So the trick to winning is stash the lotto ticket and forget about it! Or #2 live in communist california.