Lottery ticket gift sat in teacher’s car since start of summer break. It won big
At the end of the school year, a New Jersey teacher received a handful of thank you gifts from parents.
For weeks, however, some of the gifts sat in the teacher’s car, New Jersey Lottery officials said in a July 16 news release.
“I had a stack of cards as gifts, and I had forgotten I left them there,” the teacher told lottery officials.
Then, a few weeks after the start of summer break, the teacher decided to retrieve the gifts, which included several scratch-off lottery tickets, lottery officials said.
“One morning, I went out to the car and thought that I’d see if I won any gas money,” the player said.
Turns out, the teacher won “much more than some gas money,” lottery officials said.
After scratching two tickets, the teacher scratched a third: a $10 The Shore Thing ticket, lottery officials said.
The player soon learned they had won the game’s top prize of $500,000.
“I get (lottery tickets) as gifts, but I never imagined,” the winner said. “For me this is life changing.”
Upon learning of their win, the lottery player said it probably wasn’t the best idea to let the tickets sit in the car.
“I’ve been driving around with my puppy,” the winner said. “He could’ve eaten them.”
This story was originally published July 16, 2025 at 3:02 PM with the headline "Lottery ticket gift sat in teacher’s car since start of summer break. It won big."
