NH Lottery Winner Hits Jackpot With Ticket He Bought By Mistake

Hillsborough, NH – Lottery winner Scott Bennett scooped a $2.1 Megabucks jackpot, despite buying the wrong ticket by mistake.

48-year-old NH lottery winner Bennett headed to his local Circle K convenience store on December 19 and requested one Tri-State Megabucks ticket and one Lucky for Life ticket. However, the clerk on duty at the time accidentally sold him two Megabucks tickets.

Scott never did get his Lucky for Life ticket, but I doubt he cares too much right now, because one of his two Megabucks tickets came up trumps.

Due to work commitments, the NH lottery winner was unable to make a press conference on Friday, but the rest of the Bennett family accepted the prize on his behalf. Scott’s wife, Cathy Bennett, described the entire experience as “surreal,” and said the family could expect “a few extra presents under the tree” for Christmas. She added:

“It’s very overwhelming but I think once everything settles we’ll enjoy and take the time to enjoy it and decide what the future’s going to hold.”

The Bennetts may never have discovered their good fortune without 20-year-old son Travis, who told his parents a winning ticket had been sold in their neighborhood, prompting his father to check the numbers on his tickets. Cathy Bennett recalled:

“I went downstairs, and he was sitting there with the ticket in one hand and the New Hampshire Lottery website on the computer, just staring at both of them. We must have checked them about 15 times. We really truly didn’t believe it.”

After finding out about their serendipitous win, the family called a meeting over trays of Chinese food to discuss their next move. After deciding to take the lump sum payment of $1.3 million, the family settled on using the money to pay off debt, renovate the kitchen in their recently purchased Victorian home and fund college education for their kids.

It wasn’t just the Bennetts who would end up celebrating their win: the Circle K store that mistakenly sold the ticket is to receive $21,500. That money will be partly shared by the owner with his workers, including 24-year-old Nicki Gee, the clerk who sold Scott Bennett his ticket. Gee says:

“He (Bennett) came in yesterday to thank me and said I had made a very good mistake.”

Here’s a WMUR video report on the latest NH lottery winner: