October 12, 2017 - 2:51 PM
NEW YORK - A New Jersey man says a television news report led him to check lottery tickets he had stuffed in an old shirt, and one was a $24 million winner.
Jimmie Smith, of East Orange, claimed a $24.1 million New York lottery jackpot on May 23, two days before the prize would have expired.
The New York Lottery released his name Wednesday after a review was completed.
The retired security guard told lottery officials he's been buying lottery tickets in New York and New Jersey since the 1960s but doesn't rush to see whether he's won. He said he'd check them when he had the time.
Smith says he bought the ticket from a grocery and tobacco shop in Manhattan's Tribeca neighbourhood.
He chose to receive the payout over 26 years.
News from © The Associated Press, 2017