MA Store Owner Finds $1M Scratch-Off in Trash, Returns it to Cust

Imagine someone you know, or in this case see everyday, tosses a scratch-off lottery ticket in the trash because they assume it's worthless. Upon examining that discarded ticket you find out that it may in fact be a loser, but it hasn't been scratched fully. Not a big deal you say, this probably happens all of the time. Now, let's say you decide to scratch the rest of the "loser" ticket only to learn that it was worth 1 million dollars. Now what do you do? The person who left it behind thinks it's a loser, but you know it's NOT. Would you give it back or keep the money? As unlikely as that scenario is, a Springfield, MA man and his family were recently in that same exact situation and after a few sleepless nights and a battle with their conscience, the family did what many wouldn't; they gave the million dollar scratch-off back to a regular customer who thought it was a loser. Unbelievable.

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Abhi Shah is the son of the owner of Lucky Spot in Southwick MA, located about 80 miles east of Albany where the ticket was sold. According to News 10 ABC, Abhi found the ticket, but it was mother Aruna who sold the winning ticket to one of their regular customers who thought it was a loser and tossed it in the trash.

Abhi said, “One evening, I was going through the tickets from the trash and [noticed] that she didn’t scratch the number,” he said. He continued to scratch the $30 "Diamond Millions" and saw that is was a one million dollar winner.

The family wrestled with the notion of keeping the ticket, and after a few sleepless nights, and discussion among the entire family, they decided to do what they thought was the right thing. Store owner, Maunish Shah, told the news they knew who the woman was because she was a regular and “As soon as she came in, I hand her the $1 million ticket, and she freaked out and cried like a baby,” he said. Adding, “She sat down on the floor right here.”