Lottery player made richer after a selfless act of kindness
By Kate Northrop
SOUTHWICK, Mass. — A woman almost lost out on a million dollars after throwing away a lottery ticket that she thought was a loser, but a family made a selfless decision to return the ticket to her when they discovered it was worth much more than she thought.
The Shah family, who runs the Lucky Stop liquor store on College Highway in Southwick, Massachusetts, had a regular customer hand back a $30 "Diamond Millions" scratch-off ticket after she told them it wasn't worth anything. The ticket sat in the store for ten days before a closer look led the family to an ethical crossroad.
One night, Abhi Shah, the son of store owner Maunish Shah, was sifting through the lottery tickets in the trash bin when he found the fateful ticket.
"One evening, I was going through the tickets from the trash and outside, and I found out that she didn't scratch the number," Abhi told WWLP. "I scratched the number, and it was one million dollars underneath the ticket."
The Shah's grappled with the choice in front of them — keep the $1 million winning ticket for themselves, or return it to the customer who threw it out?
"I mean, I had $1 million in my hand, and on the other hand, I wanted to do something good," Abhi deliberated.
At first, the Shah's tried to justify keeping the ticket and asked other family members if they needed money.
"We didn't sleep two nights," Maunish admitted. "[Abhi] called my mom, grandparents in India, and asked what to do. They said, 'Give it back. We don't want that money.'"
It was a difficult decision to make, but in the end, the Shah's decided to return the ticket to the customer who bought it. She shopped at Lucky Stop regularly, so they simply had to wait for her to come by.
"As soon as she came in, I hand her [the] $1 million ticket, and she freaked out and cried like a baby," Abhi recalled. "She sat down on the floor right here."
The lucky winner was Lea Rose Fiega of Springfield, who, thanks to the Shah's kindness, walked away with a $1 million top prize before taxes. The store also received a $10,000 bonus for selling the winning ticket.
The "Diamond Millions" game offered 80 top prizes of $1 million in cash, 120 second prizes of $20,000, and 700 third prizes of $3,000 at the start of the game in April 2019.
Happy for her.
And nice to know that there are still good and honest people out there.
Wow, nice to see an article of store owners doing the right thing.
Please, everybody double check those tickets!!
Big congrats to the winner!
Guess it pays off looking thought the garbage
It mattered that it was the store owner that found the ticket, and traced it to the purchaser..Had any one else picked up the ticket from the garbage would be under no obligation. Nor would they think a found ticket would be a million dollars.
Why would anyone throw out a lottery ticket? Thats all I will say.
..so the Shah family asked other members of their group " if they needed money" not their money, but another person's money, and it's only after getting a call from India did their consciences kick in?.. okay.
I go back to thinking about " what if this Shah family finally thought that the lottery officials" would suspect them of thievery if one of the family members came forth to claim the million dollars?
Other store clerks have been arrested in the past, and l can think of that guy who hightailed it to Nepal years ago after claiming millions that was not his.
Shah made the right decision, but his original intentions were questionable..
If you find that much money and don't give any thought at all to keeping it you're way out at the last lonely data point on the bell curve. This is one of the reasons for the saying that everybody has a price.
people throw out losing tickets all the time. Otherwise they would just pile up.
If you think a ticket is a loser, would you keep it? I wouldn't. Mind,I would also use the self-check barcode reader in teh shop (I am in NZ, they have one in my local shop). Only if that comes up "not a winner" would I throw out the ticket.
The woman thought her ticket was a loser.. so she threw it out.
Article said she was rushed...and the Shah family discovered she hadn't completely scratched the ticket which explains why she didn't know.
My Question is--How did they know that it was her ticket that was thrown away?
I suppose there probably isn't that many 30 dollar ticket sold there? But it still would take some investigation to figure out who it was who bought it? 10 thousand isn't chump change either. I hope she still kicked them a little extra also.
Thought crossed my mind too. Some folks are Blessed with a photographic memory or if they have video surveillance...yada yada. Sounds like she is a regular, how else would they know who her employer is AND her name??
The ticket owner said she was in a rush and scratched the ticket quickly without scratching the entire ticket and thought it was a losing ticket and left the store.
The article said the woman was a regular customer in the store. Since the woman had just purchased the 30 dollar scratch-off in the store, which she probably was the only customer in the store at the time -odds are the store owners knew it was her ticket.
She was a "regular" customer who the Shah's considered gypping.
She has one of those Microchip readers, scanned the ticket and got rid of it so she wouldn't be tracked. Don't you have one wander73?
I though the same thing rebelboy. The the store owners son and family could have found the winning ticket an got afraid to cash it in. Then they found this loyal customer an made a deal with them to cash it in and they all spit it. I know there's still some good people in this world, but the red flag is how did they know it was her ticket in the trash. ???
But the article stated that the ticket sat in the trash for 10 days. The only way the store owner would know that it belonged to her is that she was the only customer in the last ten days that bought a 30.00 ticket from that particular roll. Unbelievable. I'm not buying their story. Something is FISHY. I Smell Fraught.
If this happen hrs after she left the store, and no one else had bought a ticket from the roll, I would believe it. But 10 days come on.
You are wrong it was technically their money, because they found a ticket that was discarded nor signed by the purchaser so keeping it would've been legal. Unless their lottery prohibits retailers from participating which I don't think is the case only those employed by the lottery.
Legally they could have kept the ticket. Ethically, not so much.
There are those that do the right thing, and those that don't.
"The Shah's grappled with the choice in front of them — keep the $1 million winning ticket for themselves, or return it to the customer who threw it out?"
That pretty much says they knew which customer bought the ticket. And maybe they read where it's against the law in Iowa to cash a ticket you didn't buy and decided getting $100,000 for selling the ticket was much better than taking a chance Massachusetts had similar laws.
I would lean to say it's illegal too. Retailer's could lie to their customers and tell them their scratch off is not a winner when it indeed is. That's fraud.
Mmmm took more than a minute to decide what to do.....speaking from experience. The lottery office ask u when .and ...where you bought.your ticket ..and they Do have Video...
I ain't feeling warm and fussy about the store owners..JUST SAYING...
Finally, someone who gets it..
lf only common sense was that common. I mean the Shah family in my opinion could have dispensed with the " grappling with the choice in front of them." Their actions changed my opinion on them. They also could have left out that bit of information on personal greed.
Sure, they returned the money but they needed prodding from abroad. Imagine if you will, you see your neighbor drop his wallet, you pick it up and count $700.00. Do you hesitate in handing it back or gather the family around and ask " Do you need money?" This regular customer is a " neighbor" for crying out loud. I am by no means a Saint, but come on, you running a business, act professional, especially if you have a sign on your door that says " Thank you for your patronage, we appreciate your business- see you soon."
People hold on to your "loser" scratch-offs, regular numbers (P3/4), mega, powerball etc. for the whole year. Come year end if you haven't won a "sizeable" pot then throw them out. You can claim the same amount of losers against your winnings come tax time. I'm speaking from experience here so consult your tax preparer if need be, not me.
And let me add that you have to show proof of losses with said tickets, which is why you need to hold onto them.
This lottery vendor methodology brings up a valuable issue. I've always thought that when a customer hands a lottery ticket to a clerk and says it's for the garbage, or that it isn't a winner, the clerk should immediately give them the service of scanning it (even if they just left it on the counter, the clerk should be looking). The next service should quickly be audibly saying if it is a winner or a loser.
You make a strong point here. I am having trouble with the trash not being emptied for 10 days into the dumpster out back. Also the owners son sifting through what was presumably full or nearly full trash bucket in the store and pulling out and checking tickets and happen to come upon that one. I think store owners who don't empty their trash often and sift through it for thrown out tickets probably were aware of customers habits that scratch the tickets in the store. We have all seen and detest them somewhat. They want instant gratification and their payout right away if it is a smaller hit of course. They don't sell a ton of 30.00 tickets in Southwick. It is smaller than Ike Godsey's general store in Walton's mountain. I would bet the store owner was both aware that she tossed it because yes she had to rush out of the store for some reason but scooped that baby out of the trash less than 10 seconds after she departed. Before she turned out onto the highway he knew it was a jackpot winner. Too late too head out to the parking lot to see if she was still there, sure it was. But then the two nights of no sleep occurred. Then the fake story of the call to India to parents and grandparents no less. Come on. They kept this quiet for a couple of days and realized they probably would not get away with it and would be scorned by the community.