A Montana woman said a $50,000 winning lottery ticket she intended to throw away was rescued by her brother.
Virginia Busko-Gewald told Montana Lottery officials she was inspired by her brother's lottery-playing hobby to pick up a lottery ticket at the Great Falls Albertsons. Even though her brother plays regularly, she didn't even know what game to play, so she bought the first game the clerk recommended: Powerball.
"I don't take it serious," Busko-Gewald said. "It's just fun!"
After the drawing Wednesday night, Busko-Gewald saw that she matched five numbers, but didn't think she won anything. She almost tossed the ticket in the garbage, but decided to let her brother check it first.
Sure enough, Busko told his sister she had won $50,000. Busko-Gewald couldn't believe it. She kept telling herself it was $5,000 because she just couldn't believe it was $50,000.
Busko-Gewald said she plans to pay some bills and visit her nephew in Korea and her niece in New York.
Another good "early Christmas present" story.....Gotta like it
Virginia Busko-Gewald must have matched 4 numbers plus the Power Ball. That pays $50,000.00
If she had matched five numbers and not the Power Ball number she would have won $1,000,000.00
I agree that there is something to do with beginner's luck. Spooky
I just bought some tickets at the store and I am throwing them in the trash before I check them= It worked for this lucky lady.===
here they go--------------boom
So, she didn’t know what game to play, and needed her brother to check her ticket? I would say “ stay away from the game entirely.” There is much to much risk here.. for her.That’s like her asking herself “ do l turn left or right, in oncoming traffic!”
There seems to be a lot of stories lately about people rescuing winning lottery tickets from the trash.
This makes me wonder -- how many people throw away winning tickets in the trash and don't retrieve it?
If you're going to buy a lottery ticket just to throw it away in the trash, save your state government some overhead and just write a check to the state treasury.
After Winning $50,000: One might Wonder: Will she continue to Play?
I have people at work ask me to check their ticket. These people rarely play so I don't view it as a commentary on their intelligence. She was smart to ask someone to double check her ticket. And she had fun.
Congrats on the win!
She must really owe a lot of money if she's only going to pay some bills!
If I won even that amount, it would zero out my debt and have money left over.
Lots of stories about players misplacing their tickets, but not any about players checking their found tickets, seeing their numbers matched a nice prize from two years ago. How come they never say what else they found or what they caught while dumpster diving?
l am waiting to read on LP where, a player throws his " losing lottery ticket" into a dumpster, where thereupon a pandhandler standing at a distance, observes this, decides to dive into the dumpster & retrieves the ticket. Only to discover that the ticket is worth $300,000. The original owner of the ticket, on hearing of this find, now brings a lawsuit against the pandhandler. The owner wanted to settle, but the street merchant is hearing nothing of the kind. Battle lines are drawn..hmm, l wonder who will win?
Considering someone here decided it was necessary to explain which PB prize pays $50,000 and someone else checks their co-worker's tickets, it looks like lots of players have no clue if they won and if so how much. But when you looks at both game's ticket sales during jackpot runs, it becomes obvious more people that don't usually buy tickets catch jackpot fever the last couple of drawings during the run and buy tickets. MM has "jackpot only" tickets that could add to the confusion too. Makes ya wonder how many smaller denomination tickets are thrown away.
Can you imagine someone covered in garbage handing a ticket to a well dressed worker at lottery headquarters?
I think some people forget that people have lives and dropping everything to focus on a lottery ticket is often not a priority. I don't play pick 3 or 4 so do not know those rules. Saying that players who do not know all the rules should stay away from playing, is ridiculous.
A couple of years ago, a Vietnamese gentlemen in San Jose, part of the Greater Bay Area , found himself driving on the opposite side of the road, with the end result is that he was involved in an multi car accident, due to his fault. His defense was “ the street or road signs” should have been in Vietnamese, so he “ could better understand.” In short, he had no business being in a car & on the street in traffic. Although driving & playing the lottery are two totally different things, the rules still apply. Every lottery play slip out there has RULES on the back, and it is there for a reason,to prevent ignorance from taking root. So explain it anyway you want, rules are rules. You may not agree, but it makes perfect sense. Try buying a MM or PB ticket with a dollar, cause that’s the price you remember paying for them years ago, and see how far that gets you. So there..
Quick picks do not involve lottery play slips and most infrequent players are just asking for tickets. Nor is buying a lottery ticket an inherently dangerous act. Applying some sort of elitist standard to players in order to play is ridiculous. All players are equally deserving. Most people have lives so feeling superior because one knows all the lottery rules is sad. Knowing where to go to get your questions answered was key to this story. I hope to see more newbies win. So often the new players seem to really play for fun and that is key. Enjoying the journey speaks volumes.
There is no " feeling of superiority" when playing the lottery or knowing the rules.Stop deflecting. In all the years that l have been here, l have never once given my occupation, yet we are constantly reminded of yours. Perhaps you ought to take a long hard look in the mirror before passing judgment on others.
Lol. Too funny. If anyone can find a reference to a profession being mentioned, let me know. Hopefully we all believe everyone is equally deserving of winning the lottery. But speaking of jobs, some of us have to get up to work tomorrow, so nite nite to all.
Try buying a MM or PB ticket with a dollar, cause that’s the price you remember paying for them years ago, and see how far that gets you. So there..
The cashier will say "sir, it costs $2 now" and then the customer will either hand over another dollar or say "no thanks" and cancel the transaction.
In NY State, MM & PB tickets cannot be cancelled once printed.
TheMeatman2005...every state I've played the lottery in it is the same, once purchased it cannot be canceled. Customer can refuse it, seen some lying around @ the store once in a blue moon for sale. Sometimes those ones turn into a big win.
Like Drax,oate you missed the point entirely, but hey..
No, I understand your point just fine. You think playing the lottery is as complicated as rocket science and as high stakes as brain surgery. Thank god we have you as the valiant gatekeeper.
You don't have to give an occupation, but you can make it look like you have one.
Well I am pretty familiar with the ethics codes for attorneys and one cannot act in furtherance of a crime and if you suspect your client in committing a crime, you have an obligation to resign from the case. I find it difficult to believe the attorneys, since their conversations would have been privileged, did not ask who was the actual ticket holder. The lottery officials continued to press for questions to be answered and at that point, even a semi-intelligent person would have realized something was wrong. And yes, the rules of professional conduct DO require an attorney to resign from the case if that believe their client is about to commit a crime. Take at look at the MRPC sometime.
Reminds me the Holiday Inn Express commercials. But what we really need is a certified Dumpster Diver.
No you don’t understand my point just fine. If you re read my post, you would see that l was”talking about rules & change” which is why l mentioned “ try paying $1.00 for either a MM or PB ticket in these times, why? cause the price has gone up. You decided to add to my comment, something that was erroneous at the end & others corrected you.Btw, we all here to have a good time,let’s keep it that way- Ok?
"You think playing the lottery is as complicated as rocket science and as high stakes as brain surgery."
When people go dumpster diving for lost tickets, looking in a pile of tickets on her nightstand, or finds tickets cleaning their house maybe it really is lots more complicated than we think. And just recently a huge MM or PB jackpot winner found her ticket on floor of her sister's pick-up.
I am having a good time dreaming of winning MM & PB!! Hundreds of millions of dollars are up for grab. Your life will be changed forever.
Lottery Post needs a winner. Will you be that player?
It comes down to habits. As a Senior I teach myself to use the same place or places for storing my eyeglasses, keys, medications. I do the same with lottery tickets.
I think to myself that my winning ticket will have been stored away in one place and nothing has happened to it for the past ten years. Only trusted friends will know where that is. I will not find a different hiding place for it.
Yes, I was wrong about always being able to cancel a lottery ticket and was informed by two other posters. This proves Artist77's point that if a person doesn't know some aspect of playing the lottery, they can easily fill in the gaps in their knowledge. It wasn't rocket science or brain surgery for me to get informed.
You are clearly having the worst time of anyone here. Relax.
Thank you oate.
"Yes, I was wrong about always being able to cancel a lottery ticket"
When Ohio joined MM eight years ago, a ticket did cost $1 and players could not cancel tickets. Lottery savvy members understood you were "talking about rules & change", but that creates another question; with all the information on LP, shouldn't all LP members be "lottery savvy"?
Jackpot saturation has got to the point players buy tickets just to be in the game and most don't watch the drawings or check their tickets right after. But there still are people that play every drawing, watch every drawing and then check their ticket.
Being " lottery savvy" is a choice, l think. Some see it as a chore, others welcome it. Seperating the lottery wheat from the chaff here, can be hilarious at times. Kinda like those folks who join a gym, and never seriously work out, they wander from one piece of equipment to another without ever breaking a sweat, they surrounded by everything they need to build a better or healthier body, but...
According to Mega Millions website, the winner of the $1.537 Billion jackpot from Oct 23, 2018 has not yet come forward.
Do you think they don't know they won? Could they have misplaced or thrown away the winning ticket?
https://www.megamillions.com/News/2018/Big-Mega-Millions-Jackpot-Set-for-Christmas.aspx
"The October 23 jackpot was truly a “mega” prize – $1.537 billion won on a single ticket sold in South Carolina; that winner has not yet come forward."
The South Carolina winner/s have four more months to claim their prize. Winners in S.C. have six months to claim. They can stay anonymous so we will only be told that they claimed the prize.
Your guess is as good as anyone else's? Who? Why? Where? How? When?
I thought that a 5 number win in powerball was a 1million.....or am I wrong?
rca1952, I had answered this on the first page of this Thread.
A 4 + 1 wins $50,000.00 Four numbers plus the Mega or Power Ball.
A 5 + 0 wins $1,000,000.00 Five numbers but no Mega or PB
A 5 + 1 wins the jackpot.
You are correct.
"This makes me wonder -- how many people throw away winning tickets in the trash and don't retrieve it?"
We'll never know exactly why so many tickets go unclaimed, but there's no question that a fair percentage of them get thrown away for one reason or another. That's obviously what almost happened in this case.
"saw that she matched five numbers, but didn't think she won anything."
How many other people think they didn't win with "only" 5 numbers? Or 4, 3 or 2? It's a good idea to know at least the rules that determine whether or not you won, but there's no requirement to know any of the rules at all in order to buy a ticket.
"In NY State, MM & PB tickets cannot be cancelled once printed."
The clerk may not be able to cancel the ticket, but apparently most stores are willing to let the customer cancel the transaction of buying the ticket. I suppose sometimes that might happen because somebody who doesn't know the rules decided they didn't want to pay $2 for a ticket they thought would cost them $1.
Never won a MM or PB jackpot, but have experience validating smaller value prizes so while I don't think winning one of the "big ones" is a requirement for being lottery savvy, some experience is necessary. Your gym analogy is pretty close to some people here repeating inaccurate or useless information. The thing is, it's not like the people asking the questions actually won a jackpot so the answers don't create any real problems.
But hey, it does make for interesting conversation.