Lucky Day

Shelbyville, Indiana: Karrie Jeremiah pulled a discarded lottery ticket from a restaurant trash can and hit the jackpot.

Two other people had purchased the $5 Hoosier Lottery scratch-off ticket in early February at the Chaperral Cafe. hen a clerk at the downtown cafe told them it wasn't the $40 winner they were hoping for, they threw it away, lottery officials said.

It wasn't a $40 winner — it was a $100,000 winner.

Jeremiah, a customer at the store, said she wondered whether the numbers were completely checked before the ticket was tossed. "Who would ever throw this ticket in the trash knowing it was a $100,000 hit?" she said. Lottery security director Ellen Corcella said the cafe clerk had not checked for any winning combinations other than for $40.

Lottery officials on Feb. 10 issued Jeremiah a check for $71,600 — the amount after taxes were withheld. Corcella said the lottery was looking into the circumstances surrounding the ticket, but believed Jeremiah was the rightful winner. "If I drop $100,000 in the street and walk away and the next person picks it up, it's their money," she said.

Posted by Lawren at March 1, 2005 06:22 AM

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