Lorry driver wins £20,000 from lottery ticket he bought just before taking a nap

01 September 2023 , 16:37

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Bryan Hensley won £20,000 ($25,000 USD) after buying a lottery ticket shortly before a nap. (Image: Jam Press)

An Arkansas lorry driver unknowingly bought a winning $5 lottery ticket shortly before ending his shift with a nap. The "commas and zeros" made it seem like a prank.

Bryan Hensley, 32, from Bryant, Arkansas, was travelling through Iowa when he decided to try his luck with a $5 Cash Spectacular ticket.

Heading back to his truck to settle in for the night, he checked the ticket and was stunned by the numbers. He told lottery officials: “I was honestly expecting it to be not a winner. I was just trying to get back to the truck to go to sleep."

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The winning ticket was sold at Pilot Travel Center in Altoona (Jam Press)

Bryan said he couldn't believe his eyes as he had won one of the top prizes: $25,000 (£20,000). “I just scanned it and I was in disbelief," Bryan said. "I saw a comma and a bunch of zeros and I was like, ‘Is this real?’ I almost thought I was on ‘Candid Camera’.”

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Officials said: “He called his close family and friends, then his boss so that he could be re-routed through Cedar Rapids in order to claim his prize.” Bryan claimed his winnings on August 29 and said he plans to use the cash to pay off debt and save.

The winning ticket was sold at Pilot Travel Center in Altoona, about 120 miles southwest of Cedar Rapids and part of the Des Moines metropolitan area.

Bryan buying a winning lottery ticket is indeed a stroke of serendipity given the slim chances, which stand at .29% according to the Cash Spectacular website.

Save the Student, a website that publishes articles that aim to establish financial literacy within young people, according to its mission statement, advises those with debt to steer clear of the lottery. The chances of an individual winning a multi-million-dollar jackpot are extremely slim: one in 45 million; That is why Tom Allingham, head of communication for Save the Student, listed several things that are more likely to happen than you buying the winning ticket.

According to the Cash Spectacular website, Bryan defied the .29% odds of buying a winning ticket (Jam Press)

The list consists of weird, funny, and outlandish events that still prove more prospective than winning the lottery. The chances of dating a supermodel, for example, is one in 88,000. This means an individual is 500 times more likely to attract a woman yards out of their league than become a multi-millionaire overnight.

Moving to events that are so unlikely it's almost impossible, getting struck by lightning has an even one-in-a-million likelihood, which is still 45 million times more likely than winning the lottery. Other events worth mentioning include becoming a saint, one in 20 million chance, and winning an Oscar, one in 11,500 chance.

Mataeo Smith