Incredible twist after woman throws away stained $145k lotto ticket
A woman has won over $146,000 on the lotto on a coffee-stained ticket she had binned by mistake.
Frantic Mary Elliott, from Buckingham County, in the US state of Virginia, first realised that she had thrown her ticket away, but later found it in the trash.
Then she was terrified it would be declared invalid, after the barcode could not be scanned due to the coffee stains.
But she eventually scooped USD 110,000 (AUD $146,759) on Virginia Lottery's Cash 5 with EZ Match game.
"When Mary Elliot discovered she'd matched all five winning numbers in the Virginia Lottery's Cash 5 with EZ Match game, she had a brief moment of panic. She had thrown the ticket away!" Virginia Lottery said.
"So the Buckingham County woman went digging through the trash and found it.
"But now there was a new problem: The ticket had coffee stains on it, and the barcode wouldn't scan when she tried to confirm her win.
"But this story has a happy ending," the lottery company added.
"Ms. Elliott took the ticket to the Virginia Lottery's Prize Zone West in Henrico, where Lottery officials were able to confirm the win and award her the USD 110,000 prize!"
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Ms Elliott said that whens he saw she had won, she "couldn't stop shaking".
Virginia Lottery said Ms Elliott "selected the numbers on her ticket using important birthdays."
"Cash 5 with EZ Match features a rolling jackpot, starting at a minimum of USD 100,000. If nobody matches all five winning numbers, the jackpot increases for the next drawing," Virginia Lottery said.
"The odds of matching all five numbers to win the jackpot are 1 in 749,398."
Newsflash/Australscope
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