Lotto Winner in Cookie Jar: Man Finds Winning Ticket Worth $4.85M in Deceased Daughter's Cookie Jar
A Lotto winner found his lost ticket in a cookie jar, according to reports this week.
The lottery winner, a Geneva man, was used to just buying his Lotto tickets and stuffing then in a cookie jar, rarely checking them as he didn't really feel he would win.
However, one day Ricardo Cerezo's wife threatened to throw out all the old lottery tickets in the jar, as she wanted to clean up. So the man reluctantly agreed to check them before trashing them.
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However, to his surprise the last ticket he checked was a winner:
"The last ticket said, 'file a claim.' Not a congratulations, not an amount, just said 'file a claim," Cerezo has reported.
He bought the ticket in February but had not checked it. However, when he finally did he found out that it was worth a massive $4.85 million.
The family had been having a difficult time, losing their 14 year old daughter, Savannah, who died after suffering a series of seizures, and were facing foreclosure on their home.
Cerezo has explained that his daughter had bought the cookie jar just a few months before she died, and he had used it to store his Lotto tickets.
"The honest first reaction was mammoth regret. Regret because our youngest wasn't here to enjoy this," Cerezo said.
He now testifies that he has been able to find more peace, seeing the Lotto win as an amazing gift from his daughter.
The family have said that they now plan to pay off their mortgage, pay for college and will also donate a large portion of the money to their church, as well as to other local charities.
