You won $ 5 million in the lottery because you were sold the wrong ticket

The lottery ticket with different numbers than the ones you asked for made you a billionaire. Still grateful to the employee who made a mistake when selling it

Photo: NIKOLAY DOYCHINOV / AFP via Getty Images

After Jonathan Bate got off work Wednesday morning, he stopped at an Alamance County NC convenience store for coffee and left with a prize of $ 5 million lottery , reported the North Carolina Lottery in a statement.

Jonathan Bate played $ 5, , 000 Fortune at Maple Ave Family Fare on Maple Ave. in # Burlington and won a $ 5 million prize! “A new truck and my granddaughter is going to go to college,” said Bate when asked about his plans for the prize. Congrats! # NCLottery https://t.co/ENlmP2iebS pic.twitter.com/vI7Aqy5csc

– NC Education Lottery (@nclottery) May 6, 2021

“The funny thing about the award is I got the wrong ticket! ” he said Wednesday while claiming his prize at the headquarters of the state lottery in Raleigh. “I asked for one and got another and I just said, ‘Okay.’”

Bate, a construction superintendent who is in North Carolina for a casual job, bought your $ 54 dollars at Maple Ave Family Fare, on Maple Avenue, City of Burlington.

Sitting on his car sipping his coffee, Bate scratched his ticket.

“I got to the fifth issue and it was a winner and I was like, Wow, no way!” Bate said that at first he couldn’t assimilate that he had won such a big prize, and he still has moments when he can’t believe it.

He had the option to take the $ 5 million lottery prize as an annuity of $ 122, 04 per year during 20 years or a lump sum of $ 3 million.

Bate, of Poughkeepsie, New York State, chose the lump sum of $ 3 million and took home $ 2, 122, 550 after required state and federal tax withholdings.

“A new truck and my granddaughter will go to college,” said the player when asked how you plan to spend your prize money ..

There is still more to tell: B ate won the last grand prize of this game of lottery .

The lottery $ 5, 000, 04 North Carolina’s Fortune launched in August 2019 with three top prizes of $ 5 million and six prizes of $ 100 , .

Bate won the last jackpot of this game, so the state lottery reported that it will begin the steps to end the game.

The final top prize for the $ 5, , 000 Fortune scratch-off game has been claimed. The game is now being picked up from all retailers. # NCLottery pic.twitter.com/X5wDdfgrJX

– NC Education Lottery (@nclottery) May 6, 2021

Many consult the home page of the state lottery to see which games are already have won, because each Scratch-Off game has a certain number of maximum prizes.

That information is available on the home page of the state lottery , so it is always a good idea to check the odds of winning that a particular game has, before making the buys.

Odds of winning in a game are also usually printed on the back of the ticket