A Lucky Day
Last Updated: Wednesday 7th August 2013, 12:41
When Robert Artberry Jr. bought his Mega Millions tickets, the clerk at the Shop N Go store in Dallas, Texas, gave him his change and said, "This is your lucky day". What Robert didn't realise was that the clerk's words were far more accurate than even he probably expected them to be.
"Well, it wouldn't be the first time I've heard that," Robert said, "but even I thought the same thing when I was going to the store. I had been at my brother-in-law's barber shop that day, like I am every week, just to talk. He reminded me as I was leaving not to forget to buy my tickets for that night. That's when I thought to myself that it might be a lucky day for me."
Robert continued: "I bought eight Quick Pick tickets and megaplied only the last one. And it was that last one that matched five of the six numbers in that night's drawing."
It is necessary to match all six numbers to win the Mega Millions jackpot, but matching five numbers can also bring substantial rewards, especially if a player buys the Megaplier feature. This allows the player to multiply the five number prize of $250,000 by two, three or four times.
Robert opted to double any five number prize and therefore won a cool $500,000. However, he didn't know about his win until he was reading his newspaper, the Dallas Morning News, the next day.
"Gertha, my wife, kept telling me to let her see the ticket," Robert explained. "First thing she did was call our five daughters. You can imagine what they said to her on the phone, especially after she told them that they would each receive $20,000."
Robert's generosity isn't restricted to his daughters, either. He also plans to give money to his church, where he serves as a deacon. He won't, however, be telling the pastor where the money came from. "I'm just going to make the donation," he said.
Did the Shop N Go clerk have the biblical gift of prophecy, or was his "lucky day" comment just something that coincidentally happened to come true? We'll never know for sure, but one thing we can be certain of is that Robert is very happy to be $500,000 richer.
