Auto Shop Owner Finds Old Lottery Tickets in His Truck, Wins $2.9M
Oh my god. Have you cleaned out your truck recently?
The NY Post reports Jerry Ritieni, a Long Island auto body shop owner, bought $20 worth of lottery tickets in July and shoved them into the center console of his truck, like they were damn napkins or something, never giving them a second thought. That is, until he found the tickets a month later:
"I was going through my numbers one by one, circling each number that matched up," Ritieni told The Post on Thursday.
"It took a minute for me to comprehend that I just hit the jackpot. I was like, 'No way, no way! Holy s–t!' "
He ran to tell his 17-year-old son, who, Ritieni says, was incredulous: "He didn't believe me. I joke around a lot, so his reaction was, 'Yeah, OK.' "
An employee of Ritieni's, however, believed him right away—in fact, he reportedly knew before Ritieni, arriving home after his win was confirmed at a lottery office in Plainview, had to say anything:
"He came back smiling," said Ritieni's employee, 24-year-old Ryan Rivera. "His smile gave it away — he never smiles. That was a $3 million smile."
Eek! Why don't you ever smile, Jerry? The NY Post says he's still trying to decide whether to take lump-sum payout of $1.9 million or the 26 annual payments, but one thing he knows for sure is that he plans to "secure [his] kids' future." Aw.
Except for the one that didn't believe you, I hope. That kid's gotta learn.
