A lucky California woman was fortunate enough to win $10 million after accidentally pressing the wrong button on a lotto machine.
LaQuedra Edwards from Sacramento detailed the strange incident that resulted in her becoming a millionaire.
Edwards said she put $40 dollars into a Lottery Scratchers vending machine at a Vons Supermarket in Tarzana, Los Angeles County, back in November 2021, according to a California State Lottery press release.
She said while she was selecting what games she wanted she was bumped by a "rude person." The individual did not stop to apologize and left the store straight after.
The impact of being bumped resulted in Edwards accidentally pushing the wrong number on the machine.
"He just bumped into me, didn't say a thing and just walked out the door," Edwards said about the incident.
Out of the machine came a $30 200X Scratchers ticket, a ticket Edwards had no intention of buying. Edwards admitted she was irritated about spending the majority of her lottery money on one ticket rather than her usual selection of favorites.
After leaving the store and getting back into her car, Edwards began scratching her ticket and realized that she had just won the game's top prize of $10 million.
"I didn't really believe it at first, but I got on the 405 freeway and kept looking down at [the ticket], I almost crashed my car. I pulled over, looked at it again and again, scanned it with my [California Lottery mobile] app, and I just kept thinking this can't be right," Edwards said.
The Vons store where Edwards accidentally won her fortune received a $50,000 bonus just for selling the winning ticket.
Other lottery players around the country have been equally lucky when hoping to land the grand prize.
In February, Newsweek reported on a New York man who won the top prize of $10 million from a New York lottery ticket. This was the second time the man won $10 million from the lottery.
Juan Hernandez was the winner of the top prize from a New York Lottery $10,000,000 Deluxe scratch-off ticket. He previously won $10 million from a $350,000,000 Cash Spectacular scratch-off game in 2019.
He told officials at the time he was "still trying to spend the $10,000,000" he won from his first major win. The overall odds of winning a prize is one in 3.64 from a $10,000,000 Deluxe scratch-off. But the odds of winning $10,000,000 are even smaller. Only one in 3,521,600 are so lucky to win the top prize.
Hernandez received his prize in a single lump-sum payment, which totaled $6,510,000 after the necessary withholdings.
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About the writer
Gerrard Kaonga is a Newsweek U.S. News Reporter and is based in London, U.K. His focus is reporting on U.S. ... Read more
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