A morbidly obese man who went out to get himself a sandwich has scooped USD 5 million on the lottery after randomly deciding to buy a scratchcard.
Travis Hall from the city of Port St. Lucie, Florida State, USA, said he could hardly control himself from excitement when he realised he had won USD 5 million (GBP 4 million) on the USD 20 [GBP 16] Monopoly Doubler game.
The 44-year-old man had reportedly gone out to buy a sandwich at a local grocery store when he spontaneously decided to take a chance on the play.
Travis said in a statement obtained by Newsflash from Florida Lottery: “I stopped at Publix to grab a sub and decided to try my luck with a USD 20 [GBP 16] Scratch-Off.
“Little did I know, it would turn into a USD 5 million-dollar [GBP 4 million] win!”
However, Travis was not aware that he had become a multimillionaire for days, as he didn’t scratch the ticket immediately after he bought it.
He added: “After waiting days to scratch the ticket, I handed it to my wife – my hands were trembling from disbelief at what I was seeing.”
Upon collecting the prize at lottery headquarters on Monday, 11th September, Travis could choose between a lump sum or annual payments.
He chose the lump sum and headed home with USD 3,9 million [GBP 3,1 million].
Florida representatives said: “The retailer will receive a USD 10,000 [GBP 8,085] bonus commission for selling the winning scratch-off ticket.
“The USD 20 [GBP 16] Monopoly Doubler scratch-off game features more than USD 493 million [GBP 398 million] in cash prizes, including eight top prizes of USD 5 million [GBP 4 million]!
“The game’s overall odds of winning are 1-in-3.02.
“Since inception, scratch-off games have generated more than USD 18.09 billion [GBP 14.62 billion] for the Educational Enhancement Trust Fund (EETF).”
