$1 million lottery ticket was overlooked for weeks

Jun 22, 2007, 12:21 pm (6 comments)

Tennessee Lottery

Tennessee man carried winning raffle ticket in his wallet

"It was a little surreal."

That was the reaction Kathy Checchin of Murfreesboro had when her husband, Rick, called to tell her they were million-dollar winners in the Tennessee Lottery.

(Winning numbers: https://www.lotterypost.com/specialresults/tn-lottery-raffle-2007-05-14.asp)

Her husband won the money May 14 in the Million $ Madness drawing. He just didn't know he had until Thursday.

"I bought the tickets and just held onto them. I stuck them in my wallet," he said Thursday. "I forgot they were in there."

Checchin works for the Standard Candy Co. in Nashville, and when he overheard his co-workers talking about the lottery, he remembered his tickets and asked if the Million $ Madness numbers had been drawn.

"They said, 'Yes, a long time ago,' " Checchin said. "They said, 'There's still a winner out there some place.' "

Pulling his tickets from the wallet, he called the lottery phone number.

"They went through the numbers so fast, I didn't catch them," Checchin said. "So I went online."

Even after seeing his numbers on the computer screen, Checchin didn't quite believe it. "I hollered at the people to come verify it, and they said, 'Oh, my gosh!' " he said.

The winning ticket was one of two Checchin bought March 8 and was one of four
$1 million winners. The other three prizes were claimed within three days.

Million $ Madness was a raffle-style game with a limited number of tickets. All 800,000 tickets sold out before the drawing May 14, in which four winners of $1 million were selected, as well as two winners of $50,000 and 100 $500 winners. As an added bonus, each retailer who sold a $1 million ticket received $5,000.

Once he was sure the numbers were right, Checchin called his wife. "I'm sitting in the waiting room - my son was having his wisdom teeth cut out," she said. "I was shaken. When someone calls you and asks if you're sitting down, it's not usually good news."

"Between me, the wife and our kids, we'll have no trouble spending it," Checchin joked.

The Checchins agree on one point - they aren't ready to turn in their two-week notices just yet, even on the estimated $750,000 they'll get after taxes.

"It's a lot of money," Checchin said. "But it's not that much."

Lottery Post Staff

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spy153's avatarspy153

well, it's not retirement money, but saying it isn't much is just wrong. But look who I'm talking about, he didn't even check his ticket for weeks. I was hanging on the edge of my seat until the draw in May. The very thought of winning made my hands sweat. And this joker wins?

DoubleDown

Hurray!   WTG Mr. Checchin !

 

We see one of these " I forgot about the ticket" stories at least once per month. I'm just glad the ticket didn't expire....but not as glad as the Checchins !!!!

Heck with a last name like Cha-ching, they had to win !!!  Banana

JackpotWanna's avatarJackpotWanna

Nice little nest egg.  WTG!!!!! 

 

The Checchins agree on one point - they aren't ready to turn in their two-week notices just yet, even on the estimated $750,000 they'll get after taxes.

 

Party

justxploring's avatarjustxploring

Quote: Originally posted by spy153 on Jun 22, 2007

well, it's not retirement money, but saying it isn't much is just wrong. But look who I'm talking about, he didn't even check his ticket for weeks. I was hanging on the edge of my seat until the draw in May. The very thought of winning made my hands sweat. And this joker wins?

I understand your comment, spy.  I would love to get a check for $750,000.  However, keep in mind that they deduct 25% automatically when a person wins, but if he doesn't have a lot of deductions, he will end up paying much more in federal income tax.  With young children, I think he means it's not enough to retire and take care of his family.  (That's why it's so hard to interpret what someone really means from a newspaper article.)  

Congrat to the winner!   It's a good thing he didn't wait too long or lose his wallet.  We just had a story on LP about a man who lost his wallet and it was returned without the cash, but with a winning lottery ticket.  This should be a warning to everyone - take the darn tickets out of your wallet when you get home!! 

sirbrad's avatarsirbrad

I can't wait to win the next millionaire raffle. $750,000 is plenty for me, and at 5% interest that is about $37,500 a year, which I can turn into millions over several years by living modestly enough. It will all add up fast, and before you know it I will be getting about $100,000 a year in interest. It IS a lot of money if you know how to invest it.

savagegoose's avatarsavagegoose

yeah 750k isnt really retirement money, its maybe buy a house and kep working money, or mortgage on 2 houses and u rent 1 out and work to pay second off.

 

dunno about over there but here in oz there isa some serous tax deductions if u do that 

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