Curious Tales of Lottery Luck

Bill Morgan, an Australian truck driver, had an extraordinary stroke of luck. After surviving a serious accident and a 14-day coma, he bought a scratch-off lottery ticket and won a car. During a news segment about his luck, he bought another scratch-off ticket live on air and won $250,000, making him a national hero in Australia.

Morgan was working as a truck driver when he had a serious accident in 1998. He was without a heartbeat for 14 minutes and spent 12 days in a coma. Despite being pronounced dead by doctors, he survived, considered a "medical miracle" at the time. After the accident, Morgan's life changed dramatically. He got engaged, found a new job, and won a brand-new car on a scratch-off ticket. A year later, during a TV interview, Morgan bought and scratched another ticket, winning $250,000. "I just won $250,000. I'm not kidding," said Morgan, excitedly. He called his fiancée, Lisa, to share the good news. "Let's buy that new house," he said.

More than 20 years later, the Daily Mail contacted Morgan in 2020 when he was 59 years old. That year, the video in which he tells his story went viral online. "It was an unbelievable time. 12 months before winning the lottery, my life ended for 14 minutes and 38 seconds. To this day, I bet and buy scratch-offs," Morgan told the newspaper. In the following years, Morgan faced heart problems due to the accident. Nevertheless, he considers himself grateful for everything he has experienced. "Every day I think how lucky I am. Everything happened for the best," he said in an interview.

Cedric Jackson bought a lottery ticket and asked the cashier to throw away his old tickets. At home, he realized the numbers had been drawn, but he couldn't find the ticket. He rushed to the store, but the trash had already been emptied. Later, he received a call from the store employee, who had found the winning ticket in another bag. After the ordeal, Cedric received his $35,000 prize and gave a reward to the cashier.

Imagine winning the lottery and accidentally throwing the winning tickets in the trash? That's exactly what happened to Cedric Jackson, an American from Georgia, last weekend. But the story doesn't end there.

On Saturday, August 1st, Cedric went to the convenience store near his home, where he always goes to play the lottery. Upon arriving, he bought a ticket for that weekend's draw and, seeing that he had two old tickets in his wallet, asked the cashier to throw them away. It was only later, upon arriving home, that Cedric and his girlfriend Kizie Donaldson realized they had matched the drawn numbers and had won about $10,000. The couple rushed back to the convenience store in search of the winning tickets. The store cashier, Ricky Singh, searched the trash but couldn't find the tickets. Desperate, Cedric went to the street trash bin to look for the tickets! "I had to look inside the bin. I thought the tickets might be there!" he said.

After hours of searching, the not-so-lucky winner finally gave up and went home. The case was already considered lost when Singh finally remembered where he put the trash bag that morning. "There wasn't much trash in that bin that morning, so I poured the bag into another larger bin," Singh said, pointing to a large trash can in an inner office of the store. He found the tickets and, after making some calls, managed to find Cedric's phone number to deliver the good news.

"It was a Godsend to receive that call!" Cedric said. The couple rushed back to the store, retrieved the tickets, and collected the prize money the next morning. Kizie insisted on stopping by the store and leaving a good reward for Singh for his honesty and willingness to help them. The store cashier also said he didn't hesitate to find Cedric's contact information to let him know he had found the tickets. "It never even crossed my mind to keep the tickets for myself! If I had, it would have been like I had stolen them!"

The stories of Bill Morgan and Cedric Jackson are just a few examples of the unexpected twists that can happen in lotteries. They remind us that sometimes luck can smile in the most unlikely moments and that, even in the face of the most difficult challenges, there is always hope for a surprising turn of events. May these narratives inspire us to keep dreaming and believing in the transformative potential of fortune, even in the most unexpected moments.