TRENTON (May 9, 2024) – He cracked open the sugary post-lo mein treat and read the slip of paper that was inside. “Believe in miracles...” was the message waiting for him, prophesying fortunes yet-to-come. Mere days later, this lucky New Jersey player realized his riches on a CASH4LIFE ticket purchased on his phone.

The lucky player purchased the prize-winning CASH4LIFE ticket as usual, using the Jackpocket app registered with NJ Lottery to get in the game from the comfort of home. Shortly after each drawing, this player routinely checks the app for results. On this night, there was a special message waiting for him on his phone: his ticket had matched all five of the five white balls drawn, winning $1,000 a week for life! His mind immediately flashed back to the prophetic words of the fortune cookie promising a miracle...

The foretold fortune cookie winner has opted to remain anonymous and take the cash value of the ticket, $1,000,000, but shared with the Lottery that his prize will bring newfound comfort and stability to his financial future and retirement planning.

Does this sound familiar? This NJ Lottery player also got a fortune cookie message he couldn’t ignore. “You will win big.” Two days later, he won a jackpot worth over $200,000! This ticket was also purchased on Jackpocket.

Lotteries and Fortune Cookies go together like pork and fried rice. In 2018, a NJ Lottery player won $1,000,000 playing numbers from his fortune cookie. In 2005, 100 players all won $100,000 or more playing Powerball when they all used the same numbers from an identical printed batch of fortune cookie papers made in Long Island City. Maybe the cookie-makers are really onto something: a recent survey found that, since 2004, at least 146 unique lottery winners won more than $406 million in prizes using fortune cookie numbers.