Single dad went to grocery store for salad, returned with $1M lottery win

As the popular lottery slogan goes, you’ve got to be in it to win it. And a Midwestern dad named Brant Edgington very nearly wasn’t. He had stepped into the Baker’s grocery story in Fremont, Nebraska, to pick up a salad for his lunch and figured he’d spend a few extra dollars on a Mega Millions lottery ticket. Several days later, he learned he’d won a $1 million prize.

“I don’t play all that often,” he said after his win, according to a Nebraska Lottery press announcement. “As a single parent, baloney is more important, financially.”

The odds of winning $1 million playing the multi-state Mega Millions game are 1 in 12,607,306, so that’s a reasonable point!

Though not an avid lottery player, Edgington says he does get in when the jackpot gets high. However, he wasn’t planning on buying a ticket at all that day. But as he waited in line at the store while a customer ahead of him cashed in some scratch-off tickets, he decided to play.

The following Saturday, Edgington was back at the store and checked to see if he’d won. The Check-a-Ticket scanner wasn’t working for him, so he asked a clerk to see if he’d hit the jackpot.

“They disappeared for a minute,” he said. “Then a different lady came up with her and they just stared at me. She told me, ‘Don’t pass out when I tell you this … ’”

He claimed his prize on April 5, and hopefully he’s a little less worried about buying baloney for his kids now.