SPARTA, Tenn. (WATE) — A Tennessee man was able to retrieve his $1 million winning lottery ticket after losing it in the parking lot of an auto parts store.
Nick Slatten purchased a Tennessee Cash lottery ticket at the Village Market in Sparta last Thursday ahead of that night’s drawing. After checking the winning numbers the following morning, he realized the ticket was worth $1,178,746.
“I was stunned. I couldn’t believe it,” Slatten said. “I can’t express it. It was something else.”
Slatten went about his day running errands after sharing the good news with his fiancée. Shortly after taking his brother to an O’Reilly Auto Parts Store, he realized something was very wrong.
It was about an hour later, Slatten said, when he realized he didn’t have the ticket anymore.
“I couldn’t find it anywhere,” he said.
Slatten retraced his steps and pulled into the O’Reilly’s parking lot where he saw it lying on the ground, right next to the driver’s side door of another vehicle.
“It’s a million-dollar ticket, and someone stepped right over it,” Slatten said.
“It’s a million-dollar ticket, and someone stepped right over it.”
Tennessee Cash lottery winner Nick Slatten
The Tennessee Lottery reminds players that tickets are bearer instruments, like cash. If a player loses his ticket, anyone can claim it if it is unsigned. The lottery recommends players sign their ticket immediately after purchase to identify it as theirs and to help prevent someone else from cashing it in the event that it is lost or stolen.
Slatten’s ticket is one of five tickets worth $1 million or more sold in Tennessee this month and the 310th ticket sold worth $1 million or more since the lottery began Jan. 20, 2004.
Slatten and his fiancée will continue working and have plans to buy a house of their own and better vehicles as well as invest. Mainly, their plan is to live life with “not a whole lot of worries,” he said.
