Lottery player wins big in Missouri — but makes friend mad. ‘That could have been me!’
.jpg "A man won $50,000 playing the 500X Missouri Lottery scratch-off game.")
Unlucky the first time he purchased lottery tickets during the week, a man’s return trip to a Missouri convenience store paid off in a big way.
But his friend wasn’t too happy.
Missouri Lottery officials said in an Aug. 22 news release the man went to Chucks Short Stop in Fredericktown on consecutive days to buy 500X scratch-off tickets.
“I had actually bought one for myself and a friend the day before, but it wasn’t a winner,” he told lottery officials. “When I was driving by the next day, I thought, ‘You know what? This one might hit,’ so I bought another one.”
His hunch was right. The scratch-off ticket was a $50,000 winner.
Except this time he didn’t purchase one for his friend.
“He was mad!” the winner said. “He was like, ‘That could have been me!’”
The 500X game offers three top prizes of $5 million, as well as six tickets worth $1 million.
Fredericktown is about 90 miles south of St. Louis.
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This story was originally published August 22, 2023 at 3:27 PM with the headline "Lottery player wins big in Missouri — but makes friend mad. ‘That could have been me!’."