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Man Turns ‘Happy Accident’ Into $1 Million
Do you remember Bob Ross? He was a painter on TV that would turn a blank canvas into an amazing painting full of 'happy little trees' in less than 30 minutes. He never made a mistake, he only had 'happy accidents.'
There is a man in Michigan who had a 'happy accident' of his own and it paid him $1 million.
Samir Mazahem accidentally bought two identical Mega Millions tickets using the lottery's online entry form.
"I went online and bought a ticket using numbers that are family birthdays," Mazahem told lottery officials. "I forgot to save the numbers as favorites in the app, so I went back in and set them up as favorites so I could easily play them in the future."
This is where the 'happy accident' comes in.
"What I didn't realize, is that meant I would be buying a second ticket with the same numbers. Once I figured out I had bought two tickets with identical numbers, I was a little bummed but didn't think much about it," he said.
Mazahem quickly went from feeling a little bummed to being stunned. His numbers matched the five white balls drawn, paying $1 million for each ticket.
"I recently logged into the app to check on some tickets I had bought, and that is when I saw I had two $1 million prizes pending. Saying that I was stunned is an understatement. I couldn't believe it was real. It took several days for the reality to set in that my mistake had paid off to the tune of $2 million," he said.
Mazahem plans to buy a new house and put the rest into savings.
He plans to continue working, though he says retirement will be a little easier now. "Winning is exciting and gives me some comfort knowing that when I retire, I will have money in the bank," Mazahem said.
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