ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — For almost two months, Dennis Romero of Albuquerque, New Mexico, drove around town with a lottery ticket worth $385,000 in the backseat of his car.
On Friday afternoon, Romero discovered his good fortune. Realizing he had unchecked tickets from May, he pulled into a store parking lot, grabbed the tickets and scanned them himself using a countertop ticket checker.
"When it said, 'Claim at lottery,' I knew I had won something big," Romero said.
On his quick-pick ticket for the May 29 Roadrunner Cash drawing, Romero matched the winning numbers of 4, 10 12, 31 and 32 to land the night's jackpot of $385,000. His ticket included two other plays that paid $1 each.
"From now on, I'm going to check my tickets more often," Romero told lottery officials in Albuquerque yesterday.
New Mexico Lottery tickets expire 90 days after the date of the drawing.
Romero said he's going to use his six-figure prize to pay bills and get ready for retirement.
The winner bought his lucky ticket at the 7-Eleven store located at 401 Copper Ave. NW in Albuquerque. Previously, the store has sold eight other large prize-winning lottery tickets paying between $1,000 and $5,000. For selling the jackpot-winning ticket, the store is eligible for a $1,000 lottery bonus.
Congratulations, Dennis Romero, on your tidy lottery jackpot win!
Another one with a winning ticket he didn't realise he had.
This seems to happen a lot!
Congrats though
At least he found the ticket before it expired.
What Dennis is saying is..
Check your lottery tickets on a regular basis & Don't wait for Months to go by before looking in on the backseat of your vehicle which can become a garbage dumpster if one has bad habits.
Nice catch Dennis & congratulations.
Mr. Romero ur very lucky,almost lost out on 300,grand. Congrats anyway.
i check my tickets on a regular basis and I take good take of them. A lot of good it does me.
You didn't clean your car for 2 months? Eeeek, there might be roaches back there. Congrats on your win.
I think your doing wrong whiteballz, you've got to buy tickets and then toss them somewhere!
OK, wait a while then check them to see if you win. lol hey, it just might work.
Nice catch Mr Romero.
Is that really all it takes to win? Buy a few lottery tickets and stuff them in between the couch/chair cushions, or under your car seat, or ashtray, etc. Why don't we all try that, we will all be rich.
pickone4me, I have tried irresponsible and disrespectful lottery ticket placements; due to becoming inspired by several bigger lottery jackpot winners' stories on this website. It didn't net me a BIG NET jackpot win yet. It is coming to me, soon, though. Cheers!
Congratulations Mr.Dennis Romero Spend Wisely
okay, I left my tickets in my car and I took a vow of poverty last week. So, I should win the jackpot and become a millionaire.
Congrats Dennis, glad you found your ticket.