Florida Man Won A Million Dollars From The Lottery Despite Someone Cutting In Front Of Him In Ticket Line

While Southerners love a good thank you note, would you write one to a person who cut in front of you at the grocery store? One Florida Publix customer just might, because he owes a big thank you to the person who cut in line in front of him. 

Stephen Munoz Espinoza had stopped by a Delray Beach-area Publix grocery store to pick up a lottery ticket when another customer cut right in front of him at the lottery ticket machine. "It was the end of a long day, and I was tired. I stopped at Publix and was about to buy a ticket at the machine when a man cut right in front of me. Instead of saying something, I decided I'd just buy a ticket at the counter instead,” Espinoza said in a statement released by Florida Lottery officials. 

Avoiding confrontation turned out to be the best decision he could have made.

Not because it is better to turn the other cheek or ignoring poor manners is often the best option, but because it was there that he picked up a $1 million winning scratch-off ticket, according to the statement.

“I can’t believe I won a million dollars!” Espinoza said. He chose to accept the one-time, lump-sum payment of $820,000.00 and  he and his wife have plans to use his loot to buy a house for their family. 

Espinoza won on the $50 game, 500X THE CASH, which offers a top prize of $25 million—the largest ever offered on a Florida Scratch-Off game. The Florida Lottery says this game holds “the best odds to become an instant millionaire! The game's overall odds of winning are 1-in-4.50.”

Congratulations Stephen Espinoza!