Morris County player decided to stop for a pick-me-up. A Scratch-Off game paid off big

TRENTON (Dec. 13, 2024) – Who hasn’t had a bad day? Nothing goes right. Little problems feel big. Big problems feel insurmountable. You feel like you deserve something good to happen to you. Maybe you’d settle for an extra bag of chips falling down the chute with a vending machine purchase. Or a driver lets you merge onto the Parkway during rush hour. Anything would do, really.

Would $100 be good? Most of us would say “sure.” So, why not $1 million?

A Morris County player was having “one of those days” on Wednesday, Dec. 11. At the end of the day, the player decided to stop in at Wolfson’s Market in Lincoln Park and pick out a $20 100X Cash Blitz. The stop was well worth it--the player won the second of the three $1 million cash prizes. One top prize remains.

“Man, I was having a bad day. I was running around town and I just stopped at Wolfson’s. I play there once in a blue moon. I usually go across the street,” said the winner on Thursday while visiting Lottery headquarters with a friend to claim the winning prize. “I figured I deserved something. You know, like $100.”

The player forgot the one thing that would make playing a Scratch-Off ticket easier—reading glasses, 2X power.

“I can’t tell the difference between 4s and 9s without my glasses. I had to look at the card like 10 times,” the player said with a self-deprecating laugh. “I thought I must be misreading something.”

The player’s friend should be credited with an assist.

“He’s calling me over screaming, saying ‘Tell me I won.’ Boy that was a lot of zeroes!”

“I was just hoping for like $500 to be able to buy some Christmas presents for people!” the player said.

The player didn’t learn from the glasses miscue the previous day and needed to borrow a pair in order to fill out the state forms required to claim the prize.

The $1 million top prize is the game’s annuity value. The player elected to accept the $602,300 cash value of the prize. “Hey, at least I can say I was a millionaire for a day,” the player quipped.

Regardless, the prize goes well beyond helping solve minor headaches.

“I was so nervous last night, I put the ticket in the drawer and just paced the floor all night,” the player said about his anticipation ahead of his drive with his friend down Route 1 to the Lottery headquarters to claim the prize.

The player, unable to work and is collecting disability while recovering from shoulder surgery, is a few months being eligible to retire. The prize will help bridge that time. Further, the player cares for his elderly mother who is in her 90s.

“This couldn’t have come at a better time,” the player’s friend said.