A free lotto ticket made a New Jersey woman a million dollars richer.
Carole Halleran got the free Cash4Life ticket as the result of a buy-one-get-one free coupon she turned in when purchasing a quick-pick ticket and coffee for her husband at a ShopRite supermarket, NJ.com reported.
Although the CashBall number on her free ticket wasn’t a match, the other five numbers were, giving her the option of either $1,000 a week for life, or a one-time payment of $1 million.
Halleron took the $1 million cash option and said she and her husband intend to invest the funds toward their future, NJ.com reported. Prior to her big payday, she had never won more than $11 on a ticket.
Halleran said she never bothered checking her numbers until her daughter informed her that the winning ticket was sold at the grocery store she normally goes to.
Halleran beat the 7,282,016 to 1 odds of winning the second-prize with her free ticket, but no one won the grand prize at 21,846,048 to 1 odds.
Earlier this year, a Michigan lottery player made more than $325,000 by purchasing three tickets in a single day.
© 2026 Newsmax. All rights reserved.