Iowa man wins $1M lottery prize after clerk makes printing error

An Iowa man who said he rarely has good luck playing lottery numbers got lucky last week, thanks to a printing error by a store clerk.

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Josh Buster, 40, of West Burlington, won $1 million in the April 15 Mega Millions drawing, according to a news release from the Iowa Lottery. The recipe for success for the restaurant prep chef came when the convenience store clerk initially printed just one play when he asked for five “easy pick” plays. The clerk asked if he could print the other four sets of numbers on a separate ticket, and Buster agreed.

Buster believes that changed his luck and produced a set of winning numbers.

“I feel like that changed the numbers that I would have gotten if he had put them all on one instead of making that mistake,” Buster said, according to the news release.

Buster bought his winning numbers at MK Mini Mart in West Burlington. He matched five numbers but missed the Mega Ball, which would have given him a $20 million jackpot, lottery officials said.

Buster claimed his prize Monday at lottery headquarters in Clive.

“I got up to go to work early in the morning. I opened up the lottery app and scanned my tickets,” Buster said in a statement. “I always keep my tickets in the console of my car. And I scanned it in the car and freaked out and ran back inside.”

Buster initially did not believe he had won.

“I don’t usually have good luck, so I thought it was a mistake and there was going to be an error,” Buster said in the news release. “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’m just waiting to wake up from a dream.”

MK Mini Mart will receive a $1,000 bonus from the Iowa Lottery for selling the winning ticket.

Buster said he likely will use some of his winnings to pay off his car and the mortgage on his mother’s house, lottery officials said. He will put the rest of the money away for retirement.

“It will take away a lot of my stress in my life,” Buster said. “No more of the financial worries.”

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