Josh Buster of Iowa was thrilled at the error which he reckons led to his £768,000 ($1 million) win after he was initially only given one lottery ticket
A man has won £768,000 ($1 million) in the lottery – and is thanking a shop assistant’s mix-up.
Josh Buster, 40, had asked for five easy-pick plays for Friday night’s Mega Millions draw, but the clerk accidentally gave him one play instead.
They then printed out the other four plays on a separate ticket, which Josh believes gave him his lucky break.
Man wins £768,000 in lottery thanks to shop assistant’s mistake with tickets
The prep chef, from Iowa, realised he had “won big” the next day.
A spokesman for Iowa Lottery said: “Josh Buster of West Burlington said that when he asked for five easy-pick plays for Friday night’s Mega Millions drawing, the clerk at his local convenience store initially printed just one play from the lottery terminal.
“The clerk then asked Buster if he could print four more plays for him on a separate ticket.”
Josh said: “I feel like that changed the numbers that I would have gotten if he had put them all on one instead of making that mistake.”
The lotto winner claimed his massive prize on Monday at Iowa Lottery headquarters in Clive.
He realised early Saturday that he had “won big.”
Josh said: “I got up to go to work early in the morning. I opened up the lottery app and scanned my tickets.
“I always keep my tickets in the console of my car. And I scanned it in the car and freaked out and ran back inside.”
Josh said “at first, he had trouble believing what he was seeing”.
He added: “I don’t usually have good luck, so I thought it was a mistake and there was going to be an error.
“So I Googled the lottery numbers to make sure I had the right ones, and I did! And then the rest of the day, I’m just waiting to wake up from a dream.”
The Iowa Lottery said that Josh had bought his winning ticket at MK Mini Mart in West Burlington.
They added that “his winning play came within one number of having a share of Friday’s £15 million ($20 million) jackpot, matching the first five numbers but missing the Mega Ball.”
The Iowa Lottery said Josh had told them he “likely will use some of his winnings to pay off his car and the mortgage on his mother’s house, then will put the rest away for retirement”.
Josh said:
It will take away a lot of my stress in my life – no more of the financial worries.
Josh Buster
The chef’s win comes after Maryland couple Paul and Teresa Hartsoe, 62 and 60, from Conowingo, Cecil County, discovered that they had scooped £768,000 ($1 million) on the lottery after receiving a Facebook alert that someone from the store they used had won the jackpot.
