Hoax: Man claimed he shredded winning ticket

Oct 5, 2010, 10:48 pm (13 comments)

Florida Lottery

The real winner says she has played the same number for years

A Florida man's story to get his hands on $14.5 million in lottery winnings has been shredded.

Chris Gooden, 31, had claimed that he put a winning lottery ticket in the shredder by mistake last month and that he literally only had shreds of evidence that he was the true winner of the Sept. 22 Florida Lottery drawing.

The story seemed like a tragedy until the real winner, a 70-year-old retiree, came forward with the winning ticket.

Jean Land turned in her ticket to get her share of the $29 million drawing. Another winning ticket was already turned in from South Florida.

What took so long for Land to realize she was the rightful winner is unclear, but she nearly lost out after Gooden came to the press with a truly unbelievable story.

The Fort Walton Beach man said he went to the gas station where the winning ticket was sold a few days before the drawing to fill up his truck and play the lucky numbers he found on the back of a the fortune cookie message he ate at lunch. The winning numbers were 3-4-5-7-19-30.

Gooden told the Northwest Florida Daily News he watched the drawing and then celebrated his win, but couldn't figure out where he put the ticket.

After he realized what might have happened, Gooden said tore into his shredder but could only retrieve the line that read "7, 19, 30." He couldn't find the rest of the tiny pieces of the ticket, he told Lottery officials.

"My heart just sunk," he told the local paper. "I just sat there feeling real stupid."

We wonder how he feels now?

As for the real winner, Land has played the same number with seven other girlfriends for years and their patience paid off. The group will split $9.2 million after electing to take a lump some payment.

Gooden will be stuck looking at fortune cookies and digging through shredders.

NBC

Comments

PERDUE

And I thought I was stoopid!!

OwlCreekBridge's avatarOwlCreekBridge

Chris Gooden should change his name to Chris Always-up-to-no-Gooden

temptustoo's avatartemptustoo

Thats a good one GoodenJester Laugh The truth will always come to the light Blue Angel

Grovel's avatarGrovel

Has he done an interview about this yet? I would love to see it.

louise black

My mom always said," tell one lie and you have to  tell another" ,but the truth will always come out!!! SOOOOOOOTrueeeeeeeeeeee!Thumbs Up

h5353

hi my name is hana how do i submit loser  scratch off tickets

Hermanus104's avatarHermanus104

Chris Gooden strikes me as the person who would not have used the money wisely and would end up filing for bankruptcy. If he had gotten the millions, I think karma would have hit him hard in the end.

Jack Pot's avatarJack Pot

Quote: Originally posted by Grovel on Oct 6, 2010

Has he done an interview about this yet? I would love to see it.

Click on this link, Grovel  http://www.weartv.com/newsroom/top_stories/videos/wear_vid_11326.shtml

I think he made an honest mistake, he really thought he won.

louise black

Quote: Originally posted by Jack Pot on Oct 6, 2010

Click on this link, Grovel  http://www.weartv.com/newsroom/top_stories/videos/wear_vid_11326.shtml

I think he made an honest mistake, he really thought he won.

Ok , maybe he did Thinking of...

louise black

Quote: Originally posted by h5353 on Oct 6, 2010

hi my name is hana how do i submit loser  scratch off tickets

First you need to go to the Player Club and join. The site will give a list of column explaining what to do.It's very easy try it.Yes Nod

LotteryJunkiE99's avatarLotteryJunkiE99

HAHA-HAHA.... OH MAN!!!!   First of all thank you Jack Pot for the link to the video, Second of All, I just don't know what to make of this, it's a little funny at first because it's so strange someone could claim this knowing it was not true, unless it was like another poster said on here,  that he was just mistaken.    If that is so, then it is sooo sad what the economy has done to people, making them see things that are not there in desperation.   I hope this economy picks up soon, I pray all of my fellow members do well and get well if they have been affected by any of this mess that is everywhere...  and for goodness' sakes lets hope for $330 + Christmas PowrBall or Mega!!!     Who's wieth ME!!! ??  ?   Cheers

dallascowboyfan's avatardallascowboyfan

Quote: Originally posted by OwlCreekBridge on Oct 6, 2010

Chris Gooden should change his name to Chris Always-up-to-no-Gooden

LOL... I like that oneI Agree!

sully16's avatarsully16

Quote: Originally posted by h5353 on Oct 6, 2010

hi my name is hana how do i submit loser  scratch off tickets

Read the back of the ticket.

End of comments
Subscribe to this news story