Man Buys $1.4M Lottery Ticket -- Then He Gets Lucky

It isn’t everyday when someone wins nearly $1.4 million on a scratch-off lottery ticket, but doesn’t realize it and throws the ticket away. What is even rarer is when someone realizes who won the money and calls them so the person could collect his money.

That’s exactly what Yogi Patel did.

Patel, the owner of Leprechaun News in Rutherford, realized that one of his regular customers won that money on a $20 Double Diamond scratch-off ticket and called the man.

“The man played between $200 and $300 in tickets and wasn’t paying attention,” Patel said.

The man threw the ticket out. Patel saw in his store’s lottery computer that someone won the money. He found the ticket in the garbage and checked it. Then he called the man who bought the ticket.

“I called him and told him that I needed his help right away,” Patel said. “It felt good to know that someone won the money, but it felt even better to know that now he has his money.”