US man throws away lottery tickets worth $1.25 million

By Park Sae-jin Posted : May 8, 2014, 08:05 Updated : May 8, 2014, 08:05
A man in the United States lost out on $1.25 million when he threw away winning lottery tickets in trash.

The man bought 25 tickets with the same numbers from Zhou Grocery on South Queen Street in York more than a year ago, but never claimed the prize.

The tickets have now expired and the winnings will go unclaimed.

The man was pretty upset, the York Daily Record reported.

"Wouldn't you be," said Wendy Hinton, who works at the store.

She sold 25 tickets in March last year to one of her regular customers.

She remembered because he played the same numbers every day and always bought a bunch of tickets with the same numbers - sometimes 20, other times 25 - among his daily lottery purchases that totalled about $100 a day.

Shortly after the drawing, she said, the man checked the numbers, but must have misread them and threw the tickets in the trash.

The 25 tickets were worth $50,000 each - $1.25 million total.

"He was mad," Hinton said of the day he found out that he threw away more than a million dollars. "He was so mad he played $400 that day."

It had been a mystery what happened to the tickets. The Pennsylvania Lottery put out a news release back in February, warning whoever held the tickets that they had until March 13 to cash them.

The $1.25 million jackpot will now remain in the state Lottery Fund.

By Ruchi Singh
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