Man sorting laundry saves lottery ticket from washing machine, realizes he won big

Checking the pockets is an easy thing to forget when washing clothes, but the tiresome procedure just won a Virginia man nearly $400,000.

Maricus “Bezo” Barnes of Hampton told Virginia Lottery officials he was doing his laundry when he found an old Cash 5 ticket.

“I was about to throw it away,” Barnes said in a Dec. 10 news release. “But then I decided to check it because it might be worth a few bucks.”

The $1 ticket had a value of $387,450 — and the announcement had been made back in October, officials told him.

Barnes didn’t explain how he missed the news weeks earlier, but he wasted no time cashing in the ticket.

Though late, he still had plenty of time before it expired. Winners in Virginia have 180 days (about six months) to claim winnings, according to the lottery website.

Barnes beat odds of 1 in 749,398 by matching all five numbers: 6-18-20-22-24. Jackpots in the game start at $100,000 and the amount grows until it’s won, the lottery site reports.

The current jackpot is $241,000.

His ticket was purchased at a 7-Eleven on Orcutt Avenue in Hampton, just north of Norfolk, officials said.

Barnes is an Army veteran and now works at a shipyard. He told lottery officials he didn’t have “immediate plans” on how the unexpected cash would be spent, according to the release.

This story was originally published December 10, 2021 at 2:27 PM with the headline "Man sorting laundry saves lottery ticket from washing machine, realizes he won big."