Grandad finds $24 million lottery ticket in old shirt just before it expired after a TV announcement

You can find luck in the most unexpected places at times. Like meeting the love of your life in a city you don't like, or finding a $24 million winning lottery ticket in one of the shirts in the closet. While the latter sounds too good to be true, it did happen with Jimmie Smith, per NJ.com. The retired security guard and a father of two heard an announcement on television that a particular lottery ticket hadn’t found its prize winner yet.

Smith, who is quite enthusiastic about buying lottery tickets, thought of checking his closet once. He went to his closet where an old shirt with a pocket full of unchecked tickets was hung. Surprisingly, he found the lucky ticket he had just seen discussed on television.

"I ended up with a stack - a pile of tickets, including the one they were talking about on the news," he told lottery officials. He said he has been buying tickets in New Jersey and New York since the 1960s. 

Quite understandably, Smith stood there staring at the ticket in his hand. "I stood there for a minute thinking, ‘Do I see what I think I see?" he told NJ.com, adding that he then stuck his head out the window for some fresh air. "I was in serious doubt. I had to convince myself this was real," he said.

Smith later opted to take his $24.1 million in laddered payments over 26 years, which is a choice often promoted by financial experts. Smith, who won the lottery back in 2016, is a resident of East Orange, New Jersey. 

Smith's winning numbers were 5-12-13-22-25 and 35, and the ticket was bought from a grocery and tobacco shop at 158 Church Street in the Tribecca neighborhood in Lower Manhattan. Normally, the winner has a year to claim the prize and Smith was able to claim the prize just in time.

He decided to finally look for it after the Lottery company started getting the word out. "We urge New York Lottery players: Check your pockets. Check your glove box. Look under the couch cushions. If you have this winning ticket, we look forward to meeting you," Gweneth Dean, director of the Commission’sDivision of the Lottery, said at the time.

Smith then contacted them, who waited for two days before announcing him as the winner post-review. "We are thrilled that this lucky winner was able to locate this life-changing ticket," the Dean, of the Gaming Commission, said. Smith, who is also a grandfather of 12 grandkids, said that he would decide what to do with all the money after they have an "all-family discussion" once things settle down.

New York Lottery is a state-operated lottery in the US state of New York. The lottery that began back in 1967 provides revenue for public education and is based in Schenectady. Like most lotteries, the winnings are subject to state and Federal income taxes. As per the official website, New York State withholds around 10.90, while New York City takes away another 3.876%.