Man finds $100,000 winning lottery ticket days before it expired, thanks to wife's reminder
BOSTON - A West Roxbury man is lucky in love - and the lottery.
John Butler claimed a $100,000 Mass Cash prize just 11 days before it would have expired, the Massachusetts State Lottery said.
"I'm one lucky son of a gun," John Butler told WBZ.
He had bought the ticket nearly a year ago before a trip to Florida and put it in a drawer where it stayed forgotten for months. Fortunately, his wife Jean mentioned that she saw a news story about an unclaimed Mass Cash prize.
"We were just days away from losing $100,000," Jean Butler said. "That's crazy."
Knowing the ticket was bought at the Dedham Star Market, her husband's lottery store, and thinking the numbers 3-10-11-18-22 looked an awful lot like his regular picks, she texted him and out came the Ziploc baggy full of old tickets.
"He went into the drawer to try to find it and he couldn't find it," Jean said. "We had a couple of hours there of not knowing."
But they both left work early that day for a dual search.
"When I came home from work and we went to look at the numbers, the first thing I said to my wife Jean was 'If we can't find it, we're still together right?'" John said.
Assured that marital bliss was secure, the West Roxbury couple dove into the tickets again.
"There it was. So, I went from goat to hero just like that," John said.
On Monday, John claimed his money at lottery headquarters, $71,000 after taxes, which the Butlers plan to spend on a Nashville vacation and a home renovation.
"We do think about the what-ifs that's for sure, but it just all worked out," Jean said.
Lottery players in Massachusetts have one year to claim their prizes before they expire, or else it goes back to the state.
The Butlers believe John's late father had a hand in this because he was always telling John to keep his tickets for a year, because you never know what might happen.
"We are thrilled that Mr. Butler's wife saw the Lottery announcement in the news about the unclaimed ticket! What a great reminder to keep your tickets in a safe place and always make sure to check them," Treasurer Deb Goldberg said in a statement.
