Man’s forgotten sunglasses lead him to huge Missouri lottery win. ‘I was so shocked!’

A Missouri Lottery player will likely forgive his forgetfulness, which led him to win a huge prize.

The man said he already was having a “crazy day” when he stopped for a drink at a convenience store in De Soto. There, he purchased a $10 Christmas Countdown scratch-off ticket.

“If I hadn’t forgotten my sunglasses the day before, I would not have been meeting my friend in that part of the state to pick them up,” the player told lottery officials in an Oct. 22 news release.

He initially planned to wait to scratch the ticket, but as traffic congested the St. Louis-area town, he didn’t waste anymore time.

The lottery player scratched off the ticket after he left the store, uncovering the $50,000 prize.

“I couldn’t talk, I was so shocked!” he told lottery officials. “I called my wife and reread the instructions on the ticket to make sure I had really won!”

Christmas Countdown costs $10 to play and offers two top prizes of $200,000.

De Soto is about a 45-mile drive southwest from St. Louis.

This story was originally published October 23, 2024 at 3:22 PM with the headline "Man’s forgotten sunglasses lead him to huge Missouri lottery win. ‘I was so shocked!’."