They Won $1 Million—Then Burned the Ticket

Timothy Schultz:

Welcome to Lottery Dreams and Fortune! I am excited to be joined here today with Jim, who has a short testimonial story. Now this is a really, really interesting, interesting story. There was a million dollar ticket or a game piece, something worth a million, that got burned. And Jim is gonna tell us about his experience. But Jim, how are you doing today?

Jim:

I'm doing all right. I mean, all things considered. I mean it's, I mean it's obviously just from the outset of that lead in. It sounds a little a little scary maybe, but thankfully it was many, many years ago. So I'm I'm doing okay.

Timothy Schultz:

Yes, many, many years ago, lots of time to reflect, but but let's go back in and hear what exactly happened. And first of all, what was this game or what was this game piece? Where did you get it? And yeah, let's just start with that.

Jim:

Timothy Schultz:

27 to 3?

Jim:

27 to 3. Needless to say, we you know, we we lost it. You know, we, we, we all knew right away because you know we we figured you know, oh yeah it's not gonna happen. But then when it when it hit, we were, I won't fill your story with a lot of expletives, but as you can imagine, you know, everyone was you know freaking out, running around. I would say for almost a good 10 minutes, we, we were just like, oh my god, we finally won a million dollars. I guess a little back up to that story is you know, my family did not have a lot of money. You know, we we bounced around a lot growing up. So we thought this was a game changer. Now, just prior to switching to that, I'll be totally honest, maybe it's like repressed and who knows. But like I can't remember which exact family member did it. I don't believe it was me. But someone picked up all the plates, you know, and threw the paper plates in the fireplace, because you know, wood stove, paper, why not? You know, why fill the trash? You get a wood stove, go ahead and throw those things in there and burn it. So needless to say, we're all scrambling around freaking out, like, oh my god, we just oh my god, we just won, we won, we won. And then okay, let's get that ticket. Let's find that like my dad starts looking at the table. Where you know, where...Where's, where's the damn ticket? You know, literally starts going through every piece of paper on the table. And then that then transitioned, like, okay, maybe maybe we didn't put it there. So let's let's search the whole house. Maybe it was on the kitchen table, right? Maybe it's on some other flat surface of the house. So we all started like searching everywhere for this thing. And then I'd say after like a few minutes we kinda suddenly started looking around and then you know, my mom was like, Well, I got the plates and we put 'em here and then, and then my dad was like, well it had a sticky backside. And then it was kinda like the realization started to hit, and we all like, like no joke, we're all like huddled in the living room, and we all just start kinda looking towards the wood stove. And, you know, I guess for movies they could be perfect if you could actually see the ticket burning up, but it was already gone. You know, any paper that was in there was was burned up. And so sure enough, it, it, the the realization then started to kind of really hit. We we burned that million dollar winning ticket.

Timothy Schultz:

Oh my gosh. Well that had to have been heartbreaking at the time. I mean, wha what were you thinking?

Jim:

I won't sugarcoat it. You could almost equate it like someone had passed away. It was pretty gutting. And I'm gonna say that around our household for probably probably close to a month, maybe even maybe two months, it was like everyone was just walking around like they're in a funeral procession. It was it was every day it was kind of like that realization of like we had the damn ticket that we, that we had. And even got to the point where some of the guys my dad worked with had similar tickets, and my dad actually called. He he got the number from because you know nowdays, you can just look it up online, whatever. Like he he went to work, told all the guys, you know, like, yeah, right. And no, for real, this happened. So one of the guys was like, well, here's the ticket, you know, the number. So my dad called and spoke to a representative anyway, and they were just like, you know, they believed him, but they're like, We're we're really, really sorry. But we in order to, in order to validate that we we need the ticket. So yeah, so it was it was definitely rough. As I, as I mentioned, you know, my family definitely did not come from money. They struggled a lot financially. We bounced around growing up every couple years, moved into a different house, moved into a different apartment. So like we thought like, oh my god, it's gonna solve all of our a ll of our trauma or all of our problems and not so much.

Timothy Schultz:

Oh. Well, that's I mean, yeah. That sounds really heartbreaking at the time and that it sounds similar to lotteries where you have to, most lotteries anyway, where if you have a physical ticket you have to have it physically there in order for them to redeem it. How long did it take for people to readjust and looking back now, how do you look at this this moment?

Jim:

So, you know, l, like anything, you know, I would say it was ugly for a couple of months. But then well, we were always a pretty tight family to begin with. So, you know, we do what we always do and we just rallied around each other and said, you know, it'll it'll be okay. You know, maybe not this time. Maybe, maybe there'll be another one down the line. And you know, until then the world keeps spinning, you just got to keep going. So and the the positive spin I kinda put on it is I watched a few of your interviews with other people like celebrity winners who like came into money at a very early age and you know, had no sense of how to manage finances or or you know, I don't want to say like, you know, spoiled or whatnot, but maybe turned out differently. And I try and think of that as a positive. Like, you know, I was eleven years old. What if I went from having, you know, no, no real money to speak of to suddenly, you know, I did the math just because that, you know, not trying to torture myself, but in today's dollars it would have been like $2.3 million. And I think, well, okay, if I if I came into that kind of money at eleven years old, not like it was my money, my parents, but like it might have drastically changed the type of person I am. Might have, you know, made me a little more lazy, maybe, maybe selfish, maybe you know, any number of things you can imagine if sometimes, you know, at a young age, I think sometimes you come into a lot of money. It can be both a blessing and a curse. So I try and look at it saying, you know, but maybe I would have turned out completely different. Maybe I wouldn't be the person I am today, so

Timothy Schultz:

Yeah. And do you view it as looking back now all these years later, do you view it as that was just an accident or do you believe that that was meant to be in some weird way... That all these...That you had this positive...that you can look back with that reflection, or what are your thoughts?

Jim:

I don't know necessarily know if I want to say it was like it meant to be. Like I tend to be a pretty rational grounded person. So like it, it's a little tough my brain to be like, oh no, you know, what whatever power's out there, you know, just you know, didn't want to have it happen. I mean, I guess I I could look that direction because then, then I go, okay, well, if that's the case, maybe it wasn't then so it could hold up for something later. You know, I mean. I don't, I don't really know how to think about that 'cause I just I don't put a lot of stock in that to begin with. So it's just one of those things like it it is what it it is what it was and you know, you can't can't change it. I mean I guess maybe I could be like, check those plates before they go in the...

Timothy Schultz:

Yeah. Well and it and it seems like the how you choose to view something even in retrospect affects your at least for me, I'm not saying this happens to you, but at least affects my energy, like how I look at something, but it sounds like you, the way you look at it is in a positive light in that it wasn't all...Wellm other than what happened directly, but

Jim:

Oh, yeah, like so there's like I said, there's, it's sad that there's no way to sugarcoat me like, yeah, no, it's really a good experience that we've burned a million dollars. But I I guess if I'm going to put a political spin on it, it kind of goes to, and I might have a slightly more unique view of this than maybe a lot of people, is I do truly believe that in order for anyone to really understand what true good is, you need some of that bad. If that makes any sense. It's kind of like if someone's never experienced any adversity, if someone's never had a bad day, if everyone's always living in, you know, sunshine and rainbows and moon beams and all that stuff, like they, it wouldn't feel like a good day, which is every day would start to feel the same. So I and not say I wish anyone to have bad days or wish anyone to experience, you know, true tragedy, but I think it's a part of the human condition that in order for us to really kind of understand what it is to appreciate the good, you do occasionally need to accept that there is some bad days. And you know, along with that, it's, it's not again saying like, I wish, I wish someone has a bad day so they can understand what it's to be good. It's just and I guess it also gives you that moment of reflection when those bad days happen, is realizing, okay, that this is this is a day, this is a moment, and what what can I take from this? What can I learn from this? You know, and you know, sadly there's probably a lot of people out there that that type of stuff can break a person and, and you know, set them up for not so great times in the future because they're just focusing so much on the on the bad that happened. And other people, I guess myself in this category, like I would I would choose to prefer to look at the good side of it and say, Okay. Okay, so that day wasn't a win, but you know, it's a it's a long race, it's, it's a long life, and there can be a lot of good that, you know, happens on the back side of things.

Timothy Schultz:

That seems really wise. That seems like a healthy way to to look at it and with the contrast as well, because how would you know one thing without knowing the contrast of another? I know this was a long time ago, but I am sorry that this, you know, to hear that this this happened, but I really appreciate I greatly appreciate you coming on to share this experience because I know that you're not the only one that this happens to a lot of people in probably different ways, including with the lottery. So I appreciate your courage in coming on here and for and your openness to share your experience because it's really unique and and important. So if you could leave one person or leave people watching or listening to this today with one message from your story, what do you hope someone takes away from it?

Jim:

To essentially not sound so cheesy and cliche, but never give up. It's like, you know, at the end of the day, it's just money. Money, while I get can certainly contribute to happiness. It is not the end all be all to happiness and not to sound all cheesy and the no, everyone says, oh, money can't buy happiness. I mean I think money can maybe buy a little bit of happiness along the way, but I would say that, that it doesn't have to define who you are as a person. It doesn't have to define your whole existence. I think people can find joy in many different things that aren't tied to you know a big lottery, you know, big lottery winning regardless. So I say you make your own happiness and when those bad days come, you know, accept it as for what it is on that day and then, you know, the next day will be a different day.

Timothy Schultz:

I love that. I love that. And yeah, happiness seems to come from within. So I mean at least I believe that. But yeah, I appreciate that. Is there anything else that you wanted to say about your story today that I don't know enough to ask or that you just want to say?

Jim:

Well no, I just want to say thank you very much for having me on. I certainly appreciate your time. Everyone's busy these days. So, you know, anytime something can take a little bit of time to listen to someone else, it's always a good thing. As far as anything else I don't want to pass along to anyone, just keep fighting the good fight and living each day the best you can. So and if you end up in a scenario like mine, it makes for a fun icebreaker. I'll quickly share this that it's, at work it's always made for an interesting story. Where have you ever heard of the you ever heard of like the 2 truths and a lie?

Timothy Schultz:

A little bit, can you remind me?

Jim:

Yeah, yeah. So so lots of companies, if you change teams or managers rebuild a new team, whatever, and they want to like get to know everyone, sometimes they'll go around and do what's called like two truths and a lie, where everyone sits there, thinks for a moment and thinks of two truths and one lie, and then you say it. And then people try and guess what's the lie, what's the truth. So mine always goes something like, I once burned a million dollars, I once got a speeding ticket for doing a 140, and once flew aerobatics. And then, I go ahead and say, So which of those two are true and which one of those is is straight up a lie? Fair to guess, Tim.

Timothy Schultz:

Oh, is the is the well we know one of 'em, but what is the? Is the speeding yeah, so is the speeding ticket the other one?

Jim:

That's actually the lie. I've, I don't think I've ever owned a car that could actually do a 140mph in the first place.

Timothy Schultz:

Oh.

Jim:

But I I did do, I did get into aviation as a possible career path right out of college, but that was a different story for a different time. But part of the school I went to had a great aviation program and they had, they they had aerobatic trainers, so I've gotten to fly some aerobatics in my day. You know, we're talking over 20 years ago now, but so it's always funny to throw that out to a room and and have people go, oh, there's no way you burned a million dollars. Because that's almost the first one they always throw, like, oh wow. So because they think, oh, you got a speeding ticket and was a pilot. Well, that makes sense. They like fast, dangerous stuff, and whenever it's like, oh, there's no way you burn a million dollars. I'm like, Yeah, that's a real one.

Timothy Schultz:

Yeah, I bet. I bet that stumps a lot of people. But that well, it's such a unique experience, but it does happen to people. You're not the only one and I really appreciate you coming on here today, Jim. So it's such a pleasure meeting you and I mean perhaps we could have you back on here another time if you, if you play. If you don't play the lottery, that's okay. But if you do, I absolutely sincerely wish you good luck.

Jim:

I do. In fact, the game plan this evening is I'll be going to go pick up a ticket and hopefully if this one's a winner I I'll keep it away from the wood stove. Okay.

Timothy Schultz:

Yeah. Well. Well, thank you very much for your time today and for coming onto this show. I really appreciate it.

Jim:

All right, thank you, Tim. Appreciate it.