Almost threw away $200,000 Powerball lottery ticket
BURLINGTON, N.C. — After throwing his lottery ticket in the trash, James Dixon, a retired maintenance supervisor from Burlington, realized the lottery numbers he checked were for the previous day.
Dixon said something told him to fetch the ticket and check the lottery numbers again.
"The trash was already down at the street ready to be picked up," Dixon said. "I went out and pulled the bag, took it inside and dumped everything into a laundry basket."
Dixon said he was in disbelief when he checked his lottery ticket the second time and saw he had won $200,000.
"I checked the first number and said, 'Well, I got the first one.' Then I looked at the second and third. I just started feeling numb."
Dixon told lottery officials he plans to use the money to pay off his mortgage and take his family to the mountains.
"I've never seen a check like that before," Dixon said. "This is a blessing."
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Didn't something like this just happen two months ago??
moral of the story . "always listen to your heart".
if you feel like checking it twice just do it. in his case it made him $200.000 rich.
god bless him .
Good luck, remember to hold on to ticket until all # r posted.
This is how I think most lottery tickets go unclaimed. If that happens to you and the trash gets picked up, don't mention it to anyone and repress it. It neither makes a good story or believeable one.
That was a big save just like in Hockey.
the reason the guy threw the ticket out was because he thought it was for the previous drawing... imagine matching all five numbers for the previous drawing, thus making the ticket worthless!
I always save my tickets for a while & double check them too !
An important reminder to us all- empower that little voice in your head, trust your instincts, whatever term you'd like to assign. It is amazing that people are careless with lottery tickets- why play, if you're not going to be 100% sure of the results? It surprises me even in the stores when someone utilizes the automatic reader to check their tickets and trust it fully if it reads, "not a winner"- I only believe my own eyes and use newspaper, website, and lottery terminals in stores to make certain of the numbers. Tracking scratch-off results on the New York Lottery website it is evident to me that a number of the top prizes go unrewarded- imagine you buy a scratch-off, scratch it, and don't realize you've won! WOW!
Congratulations on your happy win, James Dixon!
This scenaero happens often, several types of lottery game's various level prizes, in each state, are left unclaimed. It bothers me to truly be welcoming vast monies, be playing every multi-million win prize lottery game for minimums, and stumble upon these "unclaimed ticket" website's scrolling rows.
So, players it's good to never throw away ANY lottery or sweepstakes tickets. Presume the sorry outcome of not getting to checking the ticket again a day or so later or getting to the garbage in time. Put a plan in action. Never throw a ticket away before 15 months have passed (shoebox storage ... could be a second chance to win drawing announced later).
Players could check their tickets a day later on-line at the library or wherever AND they could re-check their tickets after that at a newspaper or a self-use kiosk at a lottery retailer's shop.
So, players it's good to never throw away ANY lottery or sweepstakes tickets.
I have a drawer I put all my old tickets in, so if there's ever an announcement of an unclaimed prize I can go through them to make sure it's not me, or else it would eat away at me having me think that I read wrong numbers or something and missed out on a big payout. I usually clean it out once a month, removing the ones that are past the date I can redeem them. It actually disappoints me a little to see all the ones I have in there that are losers, though at least most of them are only worth $2-$4. It'd feel a lost worse if I had 5 lines and the prize modifier on each of them.
Congrats to this guy though for saving his ticket and hitting a good payout.
Yeah I always double check my tickets, and I would advise NOT to use the self ticket scanners to see if ya won (at least not in michigan). Matched the mega ball on a ticket so I scanned it to see if thats all I won. I actually won $10 but the machine kept telling me not a winner, scanned it 4 or 5 times. Took it over to the clerk and he scanned it on the lotto machine and what do ya know , a $10 dollar winner. I was pissed to say the least.
Congrats Mr. Dixon, Enjoy.
Great win and great save! Good for him!
"Dixon told lottery officials he plans to use the money to pay off his mortgage and take his family to the mountains."
I hope that doesn't become a trend. Mr Dixon looks like a nice guy and all and I wish him well but I like the mountains and backwoods the way they are.
With extremely few people.
I don't mix well with Homo sapiens'.
Something to be said for not running all your I-won't-be-needing-this,-anymore papers through the shredder.
Whewww - Great save - Found $$ (-:
Happy Saturday Everyone! Good luck on the lotto tonight!
LOL Ridge, thats funny -
Maybe post a few signs: "If you are found trespassing, I will immediately introduce you to my good friend Sam Colt and my buddies, Smith & Wesson".
I like that idea, Cash.
NICE SAVE......Congrats Mr. Dixon
Hey what about Mr. Winchester? I'm sure he would like to join in too.
Along with Mr Remington and Mr Ruger!
And Mr. Thompson, Mr. Gatlin, Mr. Browning. Don't forget them. LOL
That's very true guys; I guess you never really can have too many friends...of that persuasion
It reminds me of the comedy movie "The Million Dollar Kid",starring Richard Thomas.It's about a kid in the family who buys a lottery ticket that the father Ted Hunter finds out about and throws that $50 million dollar lottery ticket in the garbage. Their running all over town trying to get that ticket.Very funny comedy.