A proud father of a recent high school graduate took a gamble on a post-ceremony gift for his son — and it paid off more than he or his son ever imagined.
Shortly after 18-year-old Lance Wall of Washougal, Washington, crossed the stage to pick up his high school diploma, he and his father stopped at a local market. Wall’s father decided to buy a Six Figures scratch-off ticket to celebrate his son’s major milestone.
The graduate took the ticket, his first one ever, and scratched it off.
His dad quickly realized his gift went from a $20 lottery ticket to $50,000.
MORE: Man uses lottery winnings to support schools in his native country
Wall and his father claimed the ticket from the Washington Lottery, which shared in a press release that the younger Wall was “really excited” about his beginner’s luck. The odds of winning the $20 lottery ticket’s $50,000 prize is 1-in-913,000.
Wall told lottery officials he plans to enjoy his summer vacation and save his windfall for his future. Right now, the 18-year-old is planning to become an artist.
This feel-good story is the latest in a series of heartwarming lottery winnings across the United States.
In April, Geraldine Gimblet of Lakeland, Florida, won $2 million on a scratch-off lottery ticket the day after her daughter completed chemotherapy treatment for cancer.
When Geraldine Gimblet of #Lakeland picked up the last $2,000,000 BONUS CASHWORD Scratch-Off game, her passion for crossword games paid off to the tune of a $2 million-dollar top prize, but that’s just the beginning of a truly, winning story!
https://t.co/q5mFPaUHR4 pic.twitter.com/mv55B9zmz9
— Florida Lottery (@floridalottery) April 7, 2023
Lucia Forseth won $5 million in California from a lottery scratch-off ticket earlier this year. She told lottery officials she’d recently overcome homelessness and was working toward her associate degree.
MORE: Formerly homeless woman wins $5 million in lottery
Finally, Souleymane Sana won $100,000 playing a scratch-off game in North Carolina. The lucky winner runs a nonprofit organization for schools in Mali, where Sana was born.
“This was my dream,” Sana said in a press release. “That was one of the main reasons I bought that scratch ticket was to be able to keep helping them.”
This story originally appeared on Simplemost. Check out Simplemost for additional stories.
