Man Buys Lottery Ticket During a Chance Visit to the Grocery Store. The Result Left Him Stunned

Thanks to rising prices, savings have gone down with even everyday things such as groceries costing a fortune now. But fate had different plans for Brant Edgington when he walked into a grocery store to pick up salad because he walked out with the ticket that made him a millionaire, as reported by PEOPLE. Edgington, who bought the Mega Millions ticket by chance, is both shocked and happy but has decided not to push his luck further.

Nebraska Lottery shared in a release that he won the draw on March 22, but this is not the first time Edgington has heard of the Mega Millions lottery, since both his father and grandfather are fans and follow every result. In the past he had only been interested in playing when "the jackpot gets high" and this time around he "wasn’t expecting to buy a ticket at all." But, he still went through with it as he had nothing to do while eating salad in the store. At that time, he regretted his decision as a person in front of him in the line took his sweet time for cashing in a pile of scratch tickets. “I don’t play all that often,” he said. “As a single parent, bologna is more important, financially.” 

Finally, he got the chance to ask a clerk to check his ticket. “They disappeared for a minute,” he said. “Then a different lady came up with her and they just stared at me. She told me, ‘Don’t pass out when I tell you this.’ " The chances of any person winning a million is 1 in 12,607,306, while the overall odds of winning any prize are 1 in 24. This is a very rare occurrence, and it helped Edgington hit the jackpot. 

The ticket had five quick plays, and one of the plays matched the numbers that were drawn. The numbers were (03, 08, 31, 35, 44), and the only one the player missed was the Mega Ball (16). It did not matter in the bigger picture as he still came out as a millionaire. The man was able to claim his prize on April 5 after adequate verification, but he is unsure whether he will try his luck once again and buy a ticket. As far as Edgington is concerned, he has won and done in all probability. Mega Millions is a jackpot game that is played in 45 states, the District of Columbia, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. 

Another lucky winner in Virginia was identified as Miriam Long, whose mistake made her a millionaire. She wanted to buy a Mega Million ticket but somehow ended up with a Powerball ticket due to the click of a button. She did not apply any special tactics, it was just pure luck that allowed her to win a fortune. WUSA9 shared Long’s story, calling it a “happy accident.” “We can add Miriam Long’s story to the list of ‘happy accidents,’” the host said before titling her as the woman who “became a millionaire by accident.”