A proud father of a recent high school graduate took a gamble on a post-ceremony gift for his son — and it paid off more than he or his son ever imagined.
Shortly after 18-year-old Lance Wall of Washougal, Washington, crossed the stage to pick up his high school diploma, he and his father stopped at a local market. Wall's father decided to buy a Six Figures scratch-off ticket to celebrate his son's major milestone.
The graduate took the ticket, his first one ever, and scratched it off.
His dad quickly realized his gift went from a $20 lottery ticket to $50,000.
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Wall and his father claimed the ticket from the Washington Lottery, which shared in a press release that the younger Wall was "really excited" about his beginner's luck. The odds of winning the $20 lottery ticket's $50,000 prize are 1 in 913,000.
Wall told lottery officials he plans to enjoy his summer vacation and save his windfall for his future. Right now, the teen is planning to become an artist.
This feel-good story is the latest in a series of heartwarming lottery winnings across the United States.
In April, Geraldine Gimblet of Lakeland, Florida, won $2 million on a scratch-off lottery ticket the day after her daughter completed chemotherapy treatment for cancer.
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Lucia Forseth won $5 million in California from a lottery scratch-off ticket earlier this year. She told lottery officials she'd recently overcome homelessness and was working toward her associate degree.
Finally, Souleymane Sana won $100,000 playing a scratch-off game in North Carolina. The lucky winner runs a nonprofit organization for schools in Mali, where Sana was born.
"This was my dream," Sana said in a press release. "That was one of the main reasons I bought that scratch ticket was to be able to keep helping them."
This story was originally published by Marie Rossiter on Simplemost.com.
