A U.S. Army veteran hailing from Cornelius, North Carolina, raked in $4 million playing the lottery when he used the numbers inside a fortune cookie, lottery officials said last week.
“I don’t usually play my fortune cookie numbers but I tried them on a whim,” Gabriel Fierro said about what happened, according to WSOC-TV.
The fortune cookie came from the Red Bowl Asian Bistro located near Mount Holly-Huntersville Road in Charlotte.
According to Fierro, he dines at the restaurant with his wife on a regular basis. He served his country for 32 years in the Army and eventually retired as a master sergeant.
The veteran purchased the Mega Millions ticket with Online Play and added $1 to change it to a Megaplier ticket that multiplied a win.
To his surprise, he matched the five white balls to win a million and the prize quadrupled to $4 million after the 4X Megaplier took effect.
The man’s $4 million prize was the biggest win ever with the Online Play in the state.
“I got an email in the morning and I just stared at it dumbfounded,” Fierro recalled, adding, “I took it and showed it to my wife and she thought it was an April Fool’s joke or maybe a scam.”
It did not take long until celebratory shouts burst forth.
“We started running around the house,” Fierro noted. “screaming like a bunch of banshees.”
The 60-year-old retired as a disabled combat veteran following his service in Iraq, the North Carolina Education Lottery said in a press release.
He eventually made it to the lottery’s headquarters to claim the prize and after federal and state tax withholdings, walked away with $2,840,401.
He planned to invest most of the money but did have one purchase to make.
“We are going to buy some champagne on the way home,” Fierro said with a laugh.
Social media users congratulated him on the win, one person writing, “I’m happy for him! Maybe I need to try my fortune cookie numbers sometime.”
“Congratulations brother. From a Soldier to a Veteran. Enjoy your retirement boss,” another commented.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.