Photo courtesy of Tony Gutierrez/The Associated Press
A California woman is $10 million richer after accidentally hitting the wrong lottery button at a local Tarzana supermarket.
In November, LaQuedra Edwards visited the Vons supermarket in Los Angeles and inserted a $40 into the vending machine to select a California Lottery scratcher. However, she recalled “some rude person” bumped into her, NBC Los Angeles reported.
“He just bumped into me, didn’t say a thing and just walked out the door,” Edwards told the California Lottery.
Edwards accidentally pushed the wrong number on the machine, selecting a $30 scratch-off ticket.
She was frustrated after the incident since she usually buys cheaper-priced scratchers and spent everything she had on one ticket.
Edwards went back to her car and scratched off the $30 ticket. To her surprise, she won the top prize of $10 million.
According to the statistics from the state lottery, the chances of winning $10 million — the top prize — playing the 200X Scratchers are 1 in more than 3 million. So though the odds are high, a person can win big while playing the lottery.
Earlier this year, Michigan resident Laura Spears would have missed out on claiming her $3 million lottery prize if she didn’t check her spam folder. Meanwhile, The Washington Post reported that a woman from Virginia named Mary Elliot accidentally threw a $110,000 lottery ticket in the trash. Luckily, she reclaimed the ticket and cashed her prize.
“I didn’t really believe it at first, but I got on the 405 freeway and kept looking down at (the ticket), and I almost crashed my car,” Edwards said. “I pulled over, looked at it again and again, scanned it with my (California Lottery mobile) app, and I just kept thinking this can’t be right,” she said.
“I’m still in shock,” Edwards added.
Edwards said she plans to buy a home with her newfound fortune and start a non-profit organization.