An honest shop owner gave a $1 million lottery ticket back to a customer who had thrown it away.
Abhi Shah discovered the winning “Diamond Millions” scratch-off lottery ticket while throwing away discarded tickets at his family’s winkel in Southwick, Massachusetts.
Shah says he dreamed about buying a new car, a house or even another store with the money.
But instead the 30-year-old and his parents, who work at the Lucky Stop store, listened to their conscience and gave the ticket back to their long-time customer Lea Rose Fiega, who would have been none the wiser.
“We had mixed emotions,” Shah told The Washington Post on Monday. “We didn’t sleep for two nights, but I don’t know what happened. My inner soul told me ‘that’s not right’.”
Fiega, who worked for a nearby insurance company, visits the winkel several times a week during her lunch break to buy scratch-offs.
In March, she bought the $30 ticket from Shah’s mother, Aruna.
Ten days later, Shah was going through the worthless stack of tickets ready to throw them in the bin when he noticed one wasn’t entirely scratched off.
The family was in two minds about keeping the ticket and even called a relative in India asking her opinion.
“She said show honesty and give it back,” Shah said.
So they contacted Fiega, who was so grateful for the family’s honesty that she gave them some of the kroon.
In addition, the family received $10,000 for selling the winning ticket, according to the Massachusetts State Lottery.