Scratch-Off Player Passes on Picking Up a Lost $100 Bill, Wins $1 Million

TRENTON N.J. (May 12, 2025) – Anybody who plays games of chance likely knows the saying “Don’t touch the money.” In other words, it’s bad luck to count the money on the table before the game is over.

Recently, the axiom played out quite literally. On April 30, a New Jersey Lottery player went to the Phillipsburg Paul Mart in Warren County with the intent of playing a Scratch-Off game. Before purchasing tickets, the player spotted a $100 bill on the store’s counter.

“I see it, and I turn around. There’s a person at the ATM and two people waiting in line,” the player recalled. “I said ‘Did somebody leave this here?’” The player asked for an envelope and wanted the store to put it up for a lost and found. “Everybody’s saying, ‘Just keep it.’ I feel that if you take something that’s not yours, you will never get your own. And everybody there just looked at me like I was nuts.”

After obliging to the request, the clerk sold three Power 20X tickets to the player, along with a healthy dose of good karma. After scratching the ticket, the player noticed the store’s scanner indicated something special was afoot. One of the tickets was a $1 million prize, the third of the $20 game’s top prizes.

“I thought the ticket wasn’t activated, but the clerk said ‘you have the golden ticket,’” the player said while visiting the New Jersey Lottery’s offices to claim the prize. “I started crying and shaking. I thought if I had taken that $100 bill, I would have felt guilty and I would have left there and never bought the ticket. I just truly believe it was a test from God.”

After passing the test with flying colors, the player said they expect to buy a modest house and a reliable car—something that had been unobtainable before.

More About the New Jersey Lottery

Since its inception in 1970, the Lottery has contributed nearly $33.7 billion to the State, helping to support many worthwhile programs and services. Lottery profits currently help bolster the public employee pension system under a 30-year agreement signed into law in 2017.