Man wins lottery but narrowly misses out on becoming a billionaire
A man was thrilled to find out he’d won a major lottery prize – before realising he was only one digit away from an even bigger jackpot.
Carlos Gutirrez bought a lottery ticket while waiting for his lunch at Lee’s Sandwiches in Falls Church, Virginia on October 9.
When he returned the next day the employees were buzzing, saying a ticket bought there had won the previous evening.
Carlos checked his ticket and found out he’d won a life changing $1 million (£827,430) – but was shocked to realise he could have pocketed the entire $1.55 billion (£1.28 billion) jackpot if he hadn’t changed the Powerball number at the last minute.
In a spur of the moment decision, he used number 19 as his Powerball number instead of the winning 14.
Upon collecting the prize at lottery headquarters, Carlos said that he plans to use some of his winnings to expand his business.
Virginia Lottery officials said: ‘Powerball drawings are held at 10.59pm Mondays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays.
‘The odds of matching all six numbers to win the jackpot are 1 in 292.2 million. The overall odds of winning any Powerball prize are 1 in 25.
‘All Virginia Lottery profits go to K-12 education in Virginia.
Follow Metro on WhatsApp to be the first to get all the latest news
Want to be the first to hear the world’s top stories? Metro.co.uk is now on WhatsApp sending updates and trending stories straight to your phone.
Join the Metro WhatsApp community for breaking news, juicy showbiz stories and must-watch videos from across our website.
We’ll send you updates all day long, so you never miss a story! You can have your say by taking part in polls and reacting to messages.
To join our Metro community, just follow these two easy steps.
Simply click on this link, select ‘Join Chat’ and you’re in!
‘Mr. Gutierrez lives in Fairfax County, which received more than $48.5 million (£40.1 million) in Lottery funds for K-12 education last fiscal year.
‘In fiscal year 2023, the Lottery raised more than $867 million (£717 million) for K-12 education, making up approximately 10 percent of Virginia’s total K-12 school budget.’
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
For more stories like this, check our news page.