Man having long day is cut in line buying Florida lottery ticket at Publix. It paid off

Getting cut in line turned out to be good luck for one man, according to the Florida lottery.

Stephen Munoz Espinoza, 43, was standing in line at a Publix in Delray Beach to buy a lottery ticket at a machine when someone cut in front of him.

“It was the end of a long day, and I was tired,” Espinoza told lottery officials. “Instead of saying something, I decided I’d just buy a ticket at the counter instead.”

After he purchased the ticket, he found out he’d won a massive prize.

“I can’t believe I won a million dollars!” he told lottery officials when he went to claim his prize at the Florida Lottery headquarters in Tallahassee on Jan. 25.

Espinoza said he and his wife have plans to buy a home for their family, according to the Florida Lottery. After tax withholdings, he took home a lump sum of $820,000.

Espinoza’s prize came from the “500X THE CASH” scratch-off game, which features a $25 million-top prize, the lottery said. This is the largest-ever prize offered on a Florida scratch-off game.

Delray Beach is about 50 miles north of Miami.

This story was originally published January 26, 2023 at 2:55 PM with the headline "Man having long day is cut in line buying Florida lottery ticket at Publix. It paid off."