Military Vet Who Needs New Kidney Scoops $14m Lottery Jackpot

A military veteran in dire need of a kidney transplant has won a cool $14.3 million in Wisconsin’s Megabucks lottery. Napolean Elvord scooped the jackpot on January 14, yet didn’t realize he was a millionaire until several days after the draw had taken place.

Indeed, the winning $1 ticket was still on Elvord’s dining table when it was announced the winning ticket had been sold at a Wisconsin Mobil station. Elvord is a regular at said station, and it wasn’t until the manager there asked him if he had bought the winning ticket that he noticed his error: he had mixed up the dates of the draw that produced the Megabucks winner.

For almost a week, an eight-figure sum had been lying on Napolean Elvord’s table, yet he didn’t realize it.

Elvord didn’t celebrate when he checked the ticket, as he still wasn’t convinced he had won. However, a visit to the Wisconsin Lottery office confirmed his success, and he received a lump-sum payment of $10.2 million, or $6.87 million after taxes. He told the Wisconsin State Journal:

“It’s still going through my head. The first thing they asked me was, ‘Did you make up the ticket?'”

With his new-found fortune, Elvord plans to help those less fortunate than himself, especially those who have taken a hit in the shaky economy over the past few years. He told NBC15:

“I hadn’t really made any plans yet, but I do look at the economy and think about the people that have lost homes that had homes and had jobs. And I’m into construction. I like remodeling, fixing up things, and I’m looking at possibly doing something in that area to re-sell homes and bring people back into their housing area.”

However, he’ll be looking after himself as well – for the past five years Elvord has received kidney dialysis, so plans to return to his native Texas and put some of his windfall toward health insurance.