A lucky man in the USA has won USD 25,000 a year for the rest of his life after he forgot to check a lottery ticket because he overslept.

Brent Oden from the city of Cincinnati, had slept late one morning when he decided to make a stop at the Bratz Auto and Machine Shop.

That’s when the 56-year-old owner of a sanitation business remembered to give the clerk inside the store an old ‘Lucky for Life’ ticket that he had forgotten to check, and ended up stunned when she said he has hit big.

Brent said in a statement obtained by Newsflash from Iowa Lottery: “We went in for coffee after we did some chores on the farm.

“I handed my tickets to one of the cashiers, and she ran it.

“And she looked at me, she looked back at the machine, and she said, ‘I think you just hit something big.’

“I said, ‘Surely not.’ And everybody was kind of in shock and awe for a little bit.”

Brent reportedly matched numbers 1, 15, 20, 31 and 44, on the drawing on Tuesday, 27th June.

The lucky winner appeared at Iowa Lottery’s headquarters along with his wife Julie the next day to collect his prize, and said: “And lo and behold, my stars fell in a row today or something.”

He recalled: “I spent the rest of my morning at our office trying to get prepared for this.

“And I had grandkids, children, several friends and people in the community calling, wanting to know if it was true to start with, you know.

“And I said, ‘I think it is. I’m not for sure, but yeah.'”

Julie said: “Since we were married, he always played the lottery, and he’s always told me, ‘We’re going to hit the big one. We’re going to win the lottery.’

“And after 25 years of being married and we had never hit the lottery, I thought, ‘Maybe I ought to second-guess this guy, I don’t think we’re ever going to hit this lottery!'”

He added: “We’ve hit some smaller prizes. But they always say, ‘If you’ve got a dollar and a dream, you never know!’ It’s true!”

Brent reportedly chose to receive the prize as a lump sum of USD 390,000 (GBP 307,690).

He revealed he plans to invest most of his winnings, and book a trip to Hawaii after he promised his wife he would take her back there after their honeymoon.

He said: “So I guess I can come through with that promise.”

Brent added: “When I was 43, I had an aortic aneurism. I had three major surgeries and I was in the ICU here in Des Moines for 21 days.

“And I beat it. I did code once and they brought me back. And they said, ‘You’re a lucky man, go find out why you’re still here.’

“I guess this might be part of the reason why I’m still here.”

Iowa Lottery said the retailer will receive a USD 500 (GBP 394) for selling the winning ticket.