Iowa lottery: Man wins $1 million Mega Millions prize because of a mistake

Josh Buster won a $1 million prize in the Iowa Lottery.

The winner said that he got the Mega Millions prize thanks to a lucky mistake.

He stated that he’s not usually lucky, but this time he was a winner.

A lucky «mistake» allowed a man to become the winner of $1 million in the Mega Millions lottery in the mid-western state of Iowa. Although he said that he’s not usually lucky, on that day he was and ended up smiling from ear to ear.

WQAD reported that Josh Buster, of West Burlington, won a $1 million Mega Millions prize in the Iowa lottery. He said that he feels that an employee’s mistake allowed the stars to align in his favor and he ended up with a very fat bank account.

A “mistake” helped him win $1 million in the Iowa lottery

Josh Buster was at a local convenience store when he asked for five easy pick plays for the Mega Millions drawing on Friday, April 15. The clerk accidentally only printed one of his numbers. Then he realized his mistake and asked Buster if he could print four more on a separate ticket. Josh Buster said yes and the rest is history.

“I feel like that changed the numbers I would have gotten if he had put them all in one instead of making that mistake,” said Josh Buster, a 40-year-old chef who claimed his prize on Monday, April 18, after scanning tickets on the lottery app before going to work.

His surprise when seeing the Mega Millions numbers

On the spot, Josh Buster ran back inside his house in disbelief after reviewing the results. “I’m not usually lucky, so I thought it was a mistake and there was going to be a mistake. So I googled the lottery numbers to make sure I had the right ones, and I did! And then, the rest of the day, I just waited to wake up from a dream,” he told WQAD.

Josh Buster’s win is the second seven-figure prize to go to the Iowa Lottery in 2022, after a New Hampton couple won $2 million in January. Now Josh Buster will take home $710,000 after state and federal withholding.

The prize will relieve «a lot of stress»

Photo: Shutterstock

The happy winner shared that he will use the Mega Millions prize money in a practical way, since he will set aside money to pay for his car, the mortgage on his mother’s house and the rest will go to his retirement fund. “It will take a lot of stress out of my life — no more financial worries,” he said.

USAToday reported that, according to Mary Neubauer, vice president of external relations for the Iowa Lottery, the probability of matching five Mega Millions numbers is 1 in 12.6 million, while the probability of matching five Powerball numbers is 1 in 11, 7 million.