TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — One lucky Florida man credited another person’s behavior for winning a $1 million prize playing a scratch-off lottery game.
“It was the end of a long day, and I was tired,” 43-year-old Delray Beach resident Stephen Munoz Espinoza told the Florida Lottery. “I stopped at Publix and was about to buy a ticket at the machine when a man cut right in front of me.”
Instead of saying something, Espinoza said he decided to buy a 500X the Cash scratch-off ticket at the counter instead.
That’s when he realized he picked up a $1 million-winning scratch-off ticket.
Espinoza told the Florida Lottery the big win was still hard to believe. He and his wife are now planning on buying a home for their family.
Espinoza bought his winning ticket from Publix, located at 555 Northeast 5th Avenue in Delray Beach. He chose to receive his winnings as a one-time, lump-sum payment of $820,000.
The game’s overall odds of winning a prize of any amount are 1-in-4.5. Players have a 1 in 267,739 chance of winning $1 million.