Winning the lottery can be an exciting moment for anyone, but that doesn't mean logistics should be overlooked.
Recently, Pastor Kevin Frey of Iowa won $500,000 with a scratch-off ticket and was so lost in the excitement of winning so much money that he ended up leaving his winning ticket inside the store where he bought it.
“I was so excited and nervous that I left the ticket inside the Casey's store, went out to the car and started calling everyone,” Frey told Iowa Lottery officials.
The 64-year-old bought the ticket and ended up claiming the eighth of 14 top prizes in the “$500,000 Ca$h” scratch-off game. The $50 game features prizes ranging from $50 to $500,000, with overall winning odds of one in 3.09.
While communicating with all his friends and family about his luck, Frey received a text message from his son asking him to send him a photo of the winning ticket to prove that he was actually telling the truth.
“My kids know that I tell some pretty good stories sometimes,” Frey told Iowa Lottery officials. “So the oldest son who lives here in Des Moines said it's not true until he sees a photo of the ticket. And then we took care of it and he was very excited too.”
That's when he realized he had left the bill inside the store.
“And then I realized: 'I don't have it! He's in the store!'” Frey said. “Luckily, I was still in the parking lot of the Casey's store and I ran inside and asked the clerk for the ticket. She was so nervous that she forgot to give it to me the first time. So we finally put it on the right page.”
Despite his eagerness to win and let his loved ones know it, Frey was still able to lead his normal church service that Sunday.
“They told me I did a good job on the sermon, so I said, 'Well, I guess there was something in the middle of that,'” he said.
As for what the pastor plans to do with his earnings, Frey and his wife, Marian, plan to move from New Hampton to the Des Moines area so he can retire and be closer to his family, in addition to other long-term plans and investments. .
“This is going to help a lot. This is exciting in that sense too,” she said. “It will be fun to be able to share some of this with some of our family members and some of the charities that we support and have supported for a long time.”
In December, several people in Iowa thought they had won the lottery, only to have it taken away hours later due to “human error”; However, those who cashed out before their money was taken were able to keep the money. .
For about seven hours, some Powerball players thought they had won after the Iowa Lottery posted the incorrect winning numbers for the game.
The state lottery said a “human error in reporting” caused the winning Powerball drawing numbers to be displayed incorrectly.
