Call it the million-dollar bump.
LaQuedra Edwards was ready to put $40 into a California Lottery Scratchers vending machine when “some rude person” bumped into her just as she was about to choose which games she wanted, according to a news release issued by the California Lottery on Wednesday and obtained by WABC-TV.
Edwards says the impact of the stranger bumping into her caused her to push the wrong number on the machine. She ended up buying a $30 200X Scratchers ticket, which she had no intention of buying.
Adding insult to injury, Edwards says she wound up spending 75% of her lottery money on one ticket, rather than her usual selection of lower-priced favorites.
But as luck would have it, Edwards returned to her car, scratched the ticket and realized she’d won the game’s top prize — $10 million.
“I didn’t really believe it at first, but I got on the 405 Freeway and kept looking down at [the ticket] and I almost crashed my car,” Edwards said, according to the statement. “I pulled over, looked at it again and again, scanned it with my (California Lottery mobile) app and I just kept thinking, ‘This can’t be right.'”
“I’m still in shock,” she added. “All I remember saying once I found out how much I just won was, ‘I’m rich!'”
According to the news release, Edwards plans to use her winnings to buy a house and launch a nonprofit organization.