Karma doesn't get any better than this
By Kate Northrop
DELRAY BEACH, Fla. — A Florida man won $1 million in the Florida Lottery after another customer cut in front of him in the line to buy lottery tickets.
Stephen Munoz Espinoza, 43, had a tough day and was looking for a bit of luck, but when it seemed that there was just one more thing (or person) getting in his way, his luck changed for the better.
To round out his day, Munoz Espinoza made a stop at the Publix grocery store on Northeast 5th Avenue in Delray Beach. He just wanted to buy his lottery tickets and move on, but someone decided they wanted to get their tickets first.
"It was the end of a long day, and I was tired," Munoz Espinoza told the Lottery. "I stopped at Publix and was about to buy a ticket at the machine when a man cut right in front of me. Instead of saying something, I decided I'd just buy a ticket at the counter instead."
The Delray Beach resident moved over to the counter and picked out a ticket from the $50 "500X The Cash" scratch-off game, which launched in February 2022 and features a top prize of $25 million.
Moving over to the counter and ditching the machine was a million-dollar decision. Munoz Espinoza walked away from the exchange with one of the game's $1 million prizes.
"I can't believe I won a million dollars!" the lucky winner emphasized.
The Publix will receive a $2,000 bonus commission for selling the winning ticket.
According to the Lottery, the "500X The Cash" game boasts the largest top prize ever offered on a Florida scratch-off game at $25 million, as well as the best odds to become a millionaire.
Munoz Espinoza visited Lottery headquarters in Tallahassee to claim his $1 million prize as a one-time lump sum payment of $820,000 and said that he and his wife plan on buying a home for their family with the winnings.
As of now, one more top prize of $25 million out of the two originally available is left to claim in the $50 "500X The Cash" game. Following this win, there are 42 out of 160 second-tier prizes of $1 million and 77 out of 300 third-tier prizes of $50,000 remaining.
The overall odds of winning any prize are 1 in 4.5.
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Oddly a few years back an elder in Florida won a HUGE jackpot , when she scooted in line. The lady before her graced the elder letting her step before her.. I always thought that was a cringeworthy deed . Manners didn't pay out that day! But hey, who said lady luck cares about good manners.
I heard that story and I believe it's just urban myth, besides there is no way to substantiate the story.
Not sure, but I think that story can be found on Lottery Post.
A "huge jackpot" implies a "lotto type game" where you select your own numbers (or generate them randomly) rather than a scratch and win.
It isn't going to matter who buys a "lotto" ticket first. Unlike lining up to buy scratchies...
Gloria in Florida as I recall. It was a much discussed news story in LP. I also recall a former member (who was kicked out of LP for a variety of issues) having a repeated meltdown that somehow Gloria had deprived him of a win in another state.
It was in fact at that time the winner of the largest Powerball jackpot in history — Gloria C. MacKenzie — who let another person in front of her before buying her ticket that won it all.
Here is that story from June 5, 2013: https://www.lotterypost.com/news/262064
The next day we published another story about the people who cut her in line: https://www.lotterypost.com/news/262097
Technically, it absolutely matters for a lotto-style game when selecting a quick pick. That's because the psuedo-random number generators built into lottery terminals typically use seed values that are based on the internal clock built into the lottery terminal. Therefore, the precise millisecond that you purchase your quick picks determines the numbers that will be generated.
Gloria MacKenzie jumped in front of Mindy Crandell to buy her $590.5 million Powerball jackpot winning ticket.
*edited to remover the link Todd already gave.
O K I believe in Santa clause. Interesting the clerk acknowledged the younger woman was next in the queue, and she deferred her turn to the older lady. She didn't believe that the deferral could result in it being a winning ticket. Or even anyone from that town could win. Seems like she had this preconceived negativity ingrained in her psyche. And the lottery gods chose this event to teach her a lesson.
* Didn't Gloria the one MacKenzie go after her son for low returns on the investment of her money?
It sounds like an urban legion or someone embellishing on what really happened. I called it the "butterfly effect" because the numbers on Gloria's ticket weren't in a "q" and could only be printed at the exact time.
Matching the numbers was exactly the same for her as for any other person with a ticker.
Gloria passed less than two years after suing her son Scott Mackenzie (not the guy wearing a "flower in his hair") over who how he was managing the winnings.
Found her obituary but nothing about the results of the lawsuit.
It really is dumb luck.Big jackpots, high volume,(quick picks) nobody analyzing results, relying on the random quick pick generator. One game one ticket, multiple games one ticket. Jump the line, skip the line.I think fate intervenes in these situations. Gloria Mackenzie Wes going to win no matter what she did on that day. That seems to be the case in all these reports.Thats what we all need is fate to intervene on our behalf.