LAKEWOOD, Colo. — An Uber driver received an unusual tip from a passenger that later led to him winning $140,000.
The man, identified by the Colorado Lottery as a Lakewood resident, was given a $5 Super Special Ultimate Bingo scratch ticket by one of his passengers.
He played the ticket and won $30, which he used to buy more scratch tickets.
“I kept winning these smaller amounts and just kept rolling it over and over into more tickets,” he told the Lottery.
After six weeks of ticket scratching, he picked up the top-prize winning scratch ticket from a Centennial store on Wednesday.
He went to the Denver claims office on Thursday to collect his prize money.
He said he will give a large portion of the winnings to his parents, who have helped him financially a number of times.
He also told the Lottery that he plans to “soup up” his car and continue driving for Uber.
He said he had driven the passenger who gave him the ticket a number of times, but has not been able to track him down to tell him about the win.
NonConGuy on April 27th, 2018 at 17:21 UTC »
Incredibly misleading title. A passenger left a scratch ticket that was only worth $30. That fueled the drivers addiction to buy more scratch tickets for 6 weeks until he won. I can easily see the winner just spend all his winnings (minus what he's giving to his parents) be wasted buying more tickets
inavanbytheriver on April 27th, 2018 at 16:55 UTC »
Aside from the part where this guy actually won, this is a typical story I heard all the time from people who scratch tickets when i worked at a convenience store. They would come in every single day, spending sometimes hundreds of dollars, yet always claim they were ahead. "I keep winning small amounts, still not in the hole yet!" I guess they are trying to justify their addiction.
Then there is the guy who would spend $500 on tickets, win $100 and then brag to everyone about it. As the cashier who sells the tickets it really took a lot of effort to not scream at him that he didn't win $100, he lost $400.
ReubenFroster56 on April 27th, 2018 at 15:46 UTC »
To everyone who didnt read the story, he didnt win the 140K with the ticket the passenger gave him, he won 30 dollars with the given ticket and kept buying more scratch off tickets until he won the 140K.