Air Force veteran William Bowker, 94, almost let a fortune slip right out of his hands.
Bowker often plays the lottery. But when his granddaughter checked his latest lottery ticket for him, she mistakenly thought it was a Mega Millions ticket instead of a Megabucks ticket.
Luckily, Bowker double-checked—and it paid off.
“She got done, and later, I thought I should double-check it before throwing it away,” Bowker, who lives in Oregon, said in a news release from the Oregon Lottery. “I am glad I did. I immediately thought—BOOM! I won!”
His winning numbers were 14-32-41-43-44-47.
“You can still see where she circled the wrong numbers!” he said.
After Bowker learned he held the winning ticket to a $6.5-million jackpot, he immediately called a family meeting to discuss the prize and how to use it, according to the news release.
He ended up taking the bulk sum payment of $3.25 million and walked away with $2.2 million after taxes.
“I have what I need, and I’m 94,” the veteran said. “This is a wonderful way to help my family.”
The lucky winner purchased the ticket at a Jacksons Food Store in Happy Valley, Oregon.
Jacksons Food Stores will receive $65,000 for selling the winning ticket. The company said Bowker’s is the largest ticket it has ever sold in Oregon.
South Florida Man Wins $15 Million From Scratch-Off Lottery Ticket
In a similar story, a man from southern Florida hit the jackpot when he won $15 million from a scratch-off lottery game, according to multiple reports.
Angel Manzanarez, 50, bought $30 worth of the limited edition Golden Rush Special scratch-off game card at a was at a 7-Eleven store at 8100 West Mcnab Road, Sun Sentinel reported.
According to the news outlet, the 7-Eleven store that sold the ticket will receive a $30,000 bonus commission.
Manzanarez claimed his $15 million at the lottery headquarters in Tallahassee, and chose to receive a one-time payment of nearly $10.5 million, reported the Sun-Sentinel.
The Gold Rush Game Special Edition launched on Feb. 25 and featured six top prizes of $15 million, the paper reported. Six different drawings would be held in 2019 between Jan 30 and April 10 that would name a total of 222 winners, all for different amounts ranging from $30 to $15 million, according to the Florida Lottery website.
“A total of 222 winners will win $600,000 in second chance cash prizes! Six drawings will be held between January 30, 2019 and April 10, 2019, where one player in each drawing will win $30,000 in cash, two players will win $10,000 in cash, four players will win $5,000 in cash and thirty players will win $1,000 in cash prizes,” the website read.
For the top prize, Manzanarez would have had a one out of 6,480,000 of a chance of winning.
The CNN Wire and NTD reporter Paula Liu contributed to this report.