A 59-year-old Compton woman won more than a half-million dollars after buying a lottery ticket she didn't even want at a store she rarely visits.
Jacqueline Brady usually buys her scratch-off lottery tickets at a doughnut shop, but changed her mind. Sunday just didn't feel like a doughnut night.
"Every Sunday night, I work the overnight and normally stop at a little doughnut shop and buy some scratch-off tickets," said Brady, who works with developmentally disable adults. "But I thought, 'No, don't get that icing because you're going to get acid tonight.'
"It wasn't meant for me to stop there."
So Brady headed to a 7-Eleven on Manchester Boulevard in Inglewood, where she asked for a $5 20X the Money game ticket. The clerk handed her a Power 5s Scratcher by mistake.
"I didn't want that ticket," Brady said. "(The clerk) had this look on his face like, 'You better take this ticket. I already rang it up.' They don't like to tear them off if you don't buy them."
Brady bought the Power 5s and some other Scratchers that she intended to purchase, then went to work. After helping her clients get ready for bed, she started scratching off the tickets and saved the one she didn't want for last.
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Alone in the dim light, her future suddenly became very bright
"I saw the '555' and thought I'd won $555. Then I looked again," Brady said. "I turned the lights on to make sure I was seeing what I was seeing. I looked again and screamed.
"I was talking to myself. I did kind of curse a little. I tried not to wake the whole house."
Brady plans on buying her dream car, a black Chevy Tahoe or GMC Denali sport utility vehicle with tinted windows.
"That was a close call. I almost didn’t buy it," she added. "So, whoever would have bought this ticket next would have had this money. Thank you Jesus, it was for me and I got it."
