It’s not every day that digging through the trash will result in something as valuable as a winning lotto ticket, but it’s not never either, so keep on digging.
Idiot-tax-volunteer, Pamela Howard-Thornton, of Shepherdsville, Kentucky, knew she was just one more scratch-off away from glory. Listening to divine messages in her dreams, she decided to play just one more game.
Speaking to officials, she said that she won big in one of her dreams. This was all she needed to be convinced to spend more money on a lotto ticket. However, she didn’t donate her money to her regular company this time and went for something a little different.
It paid off, and she won $200 on the unusual purchase. But, it didn’t scratch her itch. The addiction voices in her head wouldn’t leave her alone. With a fist full of dollars, she still wasn’t satisfied. Speaking of her cravings, she told the lotto company that she “kept telling myself, ‘Go get that ticket.'”
So, using her $200 winnings, she went back and bought her regular fix of Flamingo Bingo. With four tickets in her sweaty, shaking hands, she went home.
Trashed Winning Lotto Ticket
Heading home, she placed the lotto tickets on the side, unaware that one of them was a winner. “I had forgotten about them, so at about 11:30 that night, I decided to play them. The first three were not winners, so I put them in the trash. Then I was like ‘Where’s my fourth ticket?’ I looked in the trash and I was like, ‘Oh, my gosh, I threw it away.'”
Fishing it out, she used the scratch-off lotto ticket. At first, she was unsure if she had won a prize, but after checking online, it appeared that the lotto ticket she had fished from the trash was worth $80,000.
“My mom has always said she would give anything if she could just see me hit a big ticket before something happens to her. When I called her the night I won, she was so thankful and happy for me.”
After tax, she came away with $57,600 from the lotto ticket almost lost to the trash.