Kansas Man Doesn’t Regret Giving Back $1 Million Ticket
Thursday June 7th 2018A man from Kansas has said that ‘good deeds come back to help you’ after reflecting on the moment when he tracked down the owner of a Mega Millions ticket worth $1 million. The lucky player had left his winning entry at a store after forgetting to have it checked, and would have been none the wiser had the unselfish Kal Patel not gone out of his way to find him.
The $1 million ticket dates back to the Mega Millions drawing on Friday March 16th and had been bought at a store in Lincoln. The player came forward to the Pit Stop in nearby Salina a couple of days later to have a bunch of tickets checked, but accidentally left one on the counter.
When clerk Andy Patel ran the numbers and found that it was worth a seven-figure sum, he called Kal Patel, whose parents own the convenience store. “He said six zeroes were popping up on the screen,” said Kal, who is not related to Andy. “We couldn’t believe it.”
Kal worked out who the customer was from Andy’s description and knew the area where he lived. He drove around his neighborhood to try and find the winner, but initially could not track him down. However, when he went out again later, he saw the man driving with his brother and was able to stop him to pass on the ticket.
“I showed them the ticket and told them they were winners,” said Kal. “They started shaking. “They couldn’t believe it.”
Kal says he has since been teased by friends for giving up the $1 million, but he insists he would have felt guilty about keeping the money. He was also given $1,200 by Wichita law firm DeVaughn James Injury Lawyers this week as a reward for his good deed, and says he has no regrets about how he acted.
“Good deeds come back to help you, and bad deeds come back to haunt you,” said Kal. “It felt good to find it and then find them.”
May’s Mega Millions Jackpot Claimed
The $142 million Mega Millions jackpot from Friday May 4th has also been claimed in the past week. The ticket was bought from Fat Daddy’s Road Dog at 2901 Main Street in Moraine, Ohio, but the winner left it a few weeks before coming forward.
The prize has now been claimed by the ‘ABC XYZ Trust’, and the winner has opted to take the cash option of $84 million rather than the full annuity amount. The lump sum payment will work out at $60.4 million after state and federal taxes have been deducted.
Mega Millions has not been won since May 4th and the latest rollover on Tuesday pushed the jackpot up to $127 million ahead of the next draw. You can go to authorized retailers to take part or choose numbers online, and then check the latest results on the Mega Millions Numbers page rather than relying on the kindness of strangers!
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