NJ store owner returns lost $2M lottery ticket

Comment #22

SilverLion — Wed, 22 Jul 2015 07:18:49 GMT

Of course they returned it. They made the right intuitve decsion by assuming a sting. They did the right thing, and not try and be wily or cute.

Have you ever watched how to catch a predator

Comment #21

sully16 — Wed, 22 Jul 2015 02:46:50 GMT

Cool story, yep good Karma.

Comment #20

Gleno — Sun, 19 Jul 2015 17:22:21 GMT

And the name of the business is Leprechaun News, might be more to this story, along the lines of Irish Folklore.

Who knows, the original owner, may have been Irish and maybe, he or she, believed in Leprechauns that would bring good luck,

after so many thousands of tickets were sold. Or maybe way back in time, someone found a four leaf clover on the lot where the business now stands?

Won't be surprised to read that Senior Citizens buses are going for a day trip to Rutherford N.J. and dro... [ More ]

Comment #19

Bleudog101 — Sun, 19 Jul 2015 13:53:36 GMT

The Patel's must believe in Karma like you said. That store couldn't be in a bettor (sic) better location, across from a train station and next to a bank.

Comment #18

Gleno — Sat, 18 Jul 2015 20:24:28 GMT

Great to see that Yogi Patel was diligent at locating the winner.

He must believe in Karma and doing the right thing will bring him continued success.

Comment #17

mypiemaster — Sat, 18 Jul 2015 06:01:28 GMT

Something kind of smells fishy with this story. The ticket probably belongs to someone else.

Comment #16

MaximumMillions — Sat, 18 Jul 2015 03:37:14 GMT

After thinking about it this could easily be a scheme, what with the camera not working on that day.

I mean, Knowing a guy who plays it and was in the store around the time does not a ticket owner make.

Somebody won with his or her ticket, threw it out. The clerk calls the winner to claim and they go halfsies.

Comment #15

Bleudog101 — Sat, 18 Jul 2015 00:27:58 GMT

Just Googled the Mega Millions winners, the Lerners won $258 million from that Leprechaun store. Sounds like the place to play the lottery

Comment #14

rcbbuckeye — Sat, 18 Jul 2015 00:05:46 GMT

Vilsa, the wife scanned them. Apparently she somehow missed the winning ticket. I can't imagine how that could happen, if the scanner sets off a sound or tone to signify a winner. Maybe it doesn't. I never use the scanners.

Comment #13

VenomV12 — Fri, 17 Jul 2015 23:58:38 GMT

This idiot deserved to lose the ticket and the money, they are lucky they were dealing with one of the 10 honest Patels in the world. What kind of dummy just scratches off the barcode area and then hands it to a clerk to check? It is like asking to get ripped off. He should give them at least 25% up to as much as 50% because without them he would have nothing.

Comment #12

Taurus$ — Fri, 17 Jul 2015 22:19:53 GMT

Boy, that name patel seems to be popping up in lottery stories a lot. Makes you wonder how many of those patels own lottery terminals so we can go try our luck with them. Lol

Comment #11

DELotteryPlyr — Fri, 17 Jul 2015 22:19:19 GMT

WAIT A SECOND!!! From the below passage, it appears that the winning ticket was scanned by the clerk? or was it the self checker by the customer?

If it was the clerk then why did they not SEE the winner when scanned?

Once he had sorted through his pile and cashed in the awards from the smaller winning tickets, he left the store, and the pile of unsuccessful ones went into a box of unsuccessful tickets behind the counter.

Yogi returned later that evening and his wife told him that h... [ More ]

Comment #10

Shelby Mustang — Fri, 17 Jul 2015 22:15:21 GMT

Guess all the Patel bashers will have to pick their jaws off the floor tonight LOL

Comment #9

loonasee2 — Fri, 17 Jul 2015 21:29:33 GMT

^5 Good Karma ,.......................there

Comment #8

rgse90 — Fri, 17 Jul 2015 21:00:06 GMT

I hope that the person gives them some kind of reward not for being honest because being honest should be something we expect from everyone., But because it is nice to pay it forward so that kindness and honesty get paid forward, And I hope that the public goes and shows their APPRECIATION by spending their money in their store. I am from NYC but I will go to NJ at some point to show my appreciation by spending money in their store.

Comment #7

mrlottojackpot — Fri, 17 Jul 2015 19:36:38 GMT

Befor i even read the story i thought patel. my idea is they clean out the trash cans. keep the losers for write off when they cash big winners. little prizes were players scratch long losers and never check n when they scanned and seen the prize no choice but to turn it back in

Comment #6

maximumfun — Fri, 17 Jul 2015 19:27:26 GMT

What a lovely story! Thanks for posting it Todd.

Comment #5

river26 — Fri, 17 Jul 2015 19:02:19 GMT

good people

Comment #4

uprrman — Fri, 17 Jul 2015 18:58:31 GMT

cheers

Comment #3

haymaker — Fri, 17 Jul 2015 18:39:43 GMT

The name has been compared to Smith, although the people I know named Smith are not to thrilled about that.

I guess one day we'll read a story where the writer says: ...Local man- we will call him Yogi Patel...

In any case here's to you Yogi

Comment #2

music* — Fri, 17 Jul 2015 18:17:44 GMT

This is the second story here on LP that featured a Patel doing the correct thing. Character counts. I just found the first story . It is on this page on the related stories upper right side. A woman throws out a $100,000.00 ticket and Raj Patel saves it for her.

Comment #1

MaximumMillions — Fri, 17 Jul 2015 17:32:01 GMT

How many Patels are there

NJ store owner returns lost $2M lottery ticket

Lottery Post — Fri, 17 Jul 2015 17:15:51 GMT

A cynical person might say that the odds of meeting a truly honest person are the same as winning the lottery. But at one Rutherford convenience store, you'll find the odds are good of finding both a winning ticket and an honest store owner, who returned a winning scratch-off with a $2 million jackpot to a regular customer after it ended up unclaimed in the garbage.

Owner Yogi Patel and his wife Vilsa own Leprechaun News on Park Avenue by the traffic circle. Nestled between a bank and a parki... [ More ]