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Lottery Luck: Friend’s Text Leads To $1.2 Million Jackpot

Lottery Winners Include Thief, Bible Thumper, And Surprised Daughter

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Not Michael ChavezA text from a friend reminding Michael Chavez to check his lottery ticket recently led to a seven-figure payday for the California player.

When Chavez didn’t show up for work, a colleague texted him, joking that he must not have made it in because he’d won the Mega Millions drawing on Nov. 5. As it turns out, he was right.

“Chavez said he’d forgotten to tell his staff he wouldn’t be at the office, and his co-worker joked that he knew the reason for his absence, sending him a screenshot of the Mega Millions results from the California Lottery website,” lottery officials said last week.

After taking a look, Chavez realized he’d picked five of the six numbers, hitting a jackpot of more than $1.2 million.

“I could not believe my eyes. I’m so excited and extremely grateful,” Chavez said. "I’ll never forget… that text.”

Lottery Theft

But Chavez was far from the only intriguing story to emerge from the world of state lotteries. Prosecutors in Lancaster County in Nebraska have charged Jeremiah Ehlers with stealing a winning ticket worth $300,000.

The 49-year-old from Greeley presented the winning scratch-off ticket and was paid $213,000 after taxes. He even posed with a customary oversized check and for a winner’s photo.

However, police allege that security video shows that he stole lottery tickets from the convenience store where he worked. The company that owns the store contacted lottery officials in April 2024 and noted that Ehlers attempted to validate the ticket before purchasing it.

Almost $129,000 of the winnings were later seized from an area bank by authorities, who found that he’d already spent more than $84,000.

Winning Ticket Found In Bible

In January, a $1 million Virginia lottery win may have included some divine intervention. Jacqueline Mangus recently bought a ticket at a deli in the city of Moneta, choosing to stash it in her bible for safe keeping. (Perhaps in the book of Numbers?)

While watching the news later, a report said that a winner had been sold in Moneta, which reminded Mangus to check her ticket. The new millionaire said she was “tickled to death” with the revelation of her good fortune.

Dad Gift Pays Off

In Michigan, a lotto gift from a father really paid some dividends for a 26-year-old Oakland County woman.

“I was surprised when he handed it to me,” she said. "He said it was a ‘just because gift,’ which I thought was really nice of him. When I scratched the ticket off, I was stunned to see that it was a $4 million winner. I had so many emotions going through my body. I screamed. I cried.”

Lotteries are legal in 45 states, plus the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. Although there is no official national lottery, both Mega Millions and Powerball are offered in nearly every jurisdiction. In 2023, Americans spent more than $113.3 billion in lottery sales.

A lottery winner even made some headlines in the poker world recently. Akbar Zamani won the World Series of Poker Circuit Thunder Valley main event in January after scoring about $500,000 in the lottery a few years ago.