We all have to deal with occasional jerks in life, but they rarely result in financial windfalls. But for LaQuedra Edwards of Southern California, a run-in resulted in a $10 million lottery win.
Edwards was at a grocery store in Tarzana, planning to get her usual weekly lottery tickets, when “some rude person” bumped into her, then continued to walk out of the store. That collision led to her accidentally pushing the button for a $30 scratch-off ticket instead of the less expensive ones she was planning to buy.
She wasn’t happy, but took the ticket—as well as another $10 worth of smaller ones (tickets ranging in price from $1 to $30)—and went to her car. That’s when her mood improved tremendously.
She scratched the $30 ticket and saw she’d won the game’s top prize of $10 million.
“I didn’t really believe it at first, but I got on the 405 freeway and kept looking down at [the ticket], and I almost crashed my car,” Edwards joked in a statement from the California Lottery. “I pulled over, looked at it again and again, scanned it with my [California Lottery mobile] app, and I just kept thinking this can’t be right.”
It was right. And all of a sudden, that jerk had become a benefactor.
The odds of winning the $10 million jackpot are one in 3 million, according to the California Lottery, with only six prizes worth that much. So far, Edwards is the fifth person to do so, meaning that yes, one is still available.
Edwards says she plans to buy a house with the proceeds—and start a nonprofit organization.
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