By Todd Northrop
Imagine having lottery tickets worth $10,000, and then realizing you had thrown them away.
That's precisely what happened to Cedric Jackson of Rome, Georgia, over the weekend. But the story doesn't end there.
Jackson was a regular customer at Rick's Food Mart, 2000 N. Broad St., and went to the store early Saturday morning to buy new Cash 4 tickets.
He has played the lottery every day for five years, picking the same numbers for weeks until he wins a prize.
Friday, he thought he had missed the winning Cash 4 combination by just one digit. His girlfriend, Kizie Donaldson, said Jackson told store owner Sarabjeet "Ricky" Singh to throw the old ones away.
Later in the day, Jackson was talking to a friend about how close he had come to the jackpot, when he realized he actually had won.
"I ran back to the car. So, I went there looking for my numbers, but I didn't have it. So I said, 'Uh oh. I [threw] it away,'" Jackson said.
Jackson rushed back to Rick's Food Mart on N. Broad Street with Donaldson, explained what had happened and clerk Jaswant "Sunny" Singh went through the trash at the counter but couldn't find anything.
"I had to go inside the dumpster cause I thought that I had thrown them away for real," Jackson said.
"It was pretty hot that day inside that dumpster," laughed Jackson.
The ticket was not inside, but employees continued to search. It didn't look good until a little later Ricky Singh remembered where he'd put the trash. Both of the $5,000 tickets were inside a trashcan in a back room.
"That morning there wasn't that much trash in here and I dumped it into that inside little trash can," said Singh, pointing to a tall trash can in an inner office.
He found the tickets then made a few calls and was able to track down Jackson with the good news.
"It was a blessing from God," said Jackson after he got the call.
Jackson claimed his prize Monday, and then later returned to the store to share $100 with Rick's. Ricky Singh immediately handed the nice tip to his employee Sunny Singh.
Ricky Singh said there was never any question after he found the two $5,000 tickets that he would make the effort to track down Jackson.
"If I had kept them it would have been like stealing," Singh said.
Jackson said he planned to help out members of his family with his winnings. Donaldson said the couple would also pay off some bills.
He also plans to return to the store for tickets every day.
"Today could be the day again," he exclaimed.
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Thanks to Toney725 for the tip.
what cash ticket is pick 3 5000
my thoughts EXACTLY......
Yeah, pretty strange. I checked again with a different source, and they were actually Cash 4 tickets, not Cash 3. I have updated the story with the correct game, as well as some other new information I was able to track down.
Wow Cedric is lucky that Ricky found his tickets Congratulations to Cedric and his winnings may he have many more wins.
The guy finds the tickets, worth $5,000.00 each and all he gets is a $100.00 tip from the winner?
What a cheap <snip>ing <snip>.
The guy who found the tickets should have kept them and collected the money for himself if he knew that the guy was only gonna give him a hundred bucks.
How much of a tip would you have given Mike?
All state lotteries should offer a Player's Card, like the example below, from the state lottery of Western Australia.
We want to make it easy for you to collect your prize.
A Lotterywest Player’s Card can:
How it works
Claiming your prize
With a Lotterywest Player’s Card, it doesn’t matter if you forget to check your numbers. Any prizes will be automatically sent to you five weeks after the draw, provided they have not already been claimed.
However, it’s still important you keep your tickets in a safe place, to make sure no one else claims any winnings before we deposit into your account or send you a cheque.
GREAT idea and that is how an HONEST lottery SHOULD work. Most here in the US will just wait for the prize to expire then put the money back in the checking account.
I applaud
Lotterywest, if they actually follow through with what they say.
Glad he got his tickets, congrats to the lucky guy.
Glad it wasn't you! We see what kind of person you are! Very low character or no character at all!!! The store employees did what they were supposed to do and a tip isn't required at all! When you do things you should do without hesitation, you shouldn't look for something in return! A tip should be given but isn't mandatory! Yes, if it wasn't for the employees the customer wouldn't have anything but again that's what people do that have good character! What was he supposed to do? Give him $1000-$5000???
Ricky Singh said if he had kept them it would have been like stealing. Which is true. Which also means YOU would be a simple thief and proud of it.
So what amount do you consider to be a proper tip? Don't just criticize, offer suggestions
You quite now,..lol I think they just changed your name from NEMike to NE-Waysss...a tip is a tip take the money n dip!