Man finds winning $24m lottery ticket in his shirt days before deadline

A 68-year-old man from New Jersey has hit the jackpot after finding a winning lottery ticket in his shirt.

Like most people, Jimmie Smith has a pile of unread letters, discarded receipts and in his case lottery tickets hidden away in his home.

Rather than have them in a draw or a box, Smith kept his old lottery tickets in a shirt pocket but had never bothered to check them.

The New York Lottery allows winners 12 months to claim their prize and it was lucky for Smith that he checked his when he did.

The ticket, which was worth some $24.1 million, had only two days left before it expired for good.

However, the New York Gaming Commission knew that someone had the winning ticket somewhere in the New York area and began to put the call out on Twitter.

Smith managed to hear of the story which prompted him to have a look at those old tickets and well...you know the rest.

CNNquote him as saying:

[I] stood there for a minute thinking, 'Do I see what I think I see?'

I had to stick my head out the window and breathe in some fresh air. 

I was in serious doubt. I really had to convince myself this was real.

Wisely Smith, who is a retired security guard, has chosen to receive his money over the course of 26 years.

His extensive family, which includes 12 grandchildren, plan to have a discussion on what to do with the money once the hysteria has died down.

HT CNN

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