"I don't usually play my fortune cookie numbers but I tried them on a whim," Gabriel Fierro, 60, said.
A North Carolina man who decided to use the numbers from a fortune cookie to play the lottery actually made a ‘fortune,’ when the numbers he played matched the $4 Multiplier Mega Millions ticket, according to the North Carolina Education Lottery, who announced the news on their website
Gabriel Fierro, 60, of Cornelius, N.C. said that he learned of his win through an email and once he showed it to his wife, he told lottery officials she thought it was a “scam” or an April Fools' joke, but as soon as the couple realized it was legitimate they both went bonkers.
“We started running around the house screaming like a bunch of banshees,” Fierro said.
The retired master sergeant, who spent 32 years with the Army and retired as a disabled combat veteran after spending time in Iraq, said he “doesn’t usually play his fortune cookie numbers” and “tried them on a whim,” the release said.
Fierro said the fortune cookie came from the Red Bowl restaurant in Charlotte, N.C, an eatery he frequents with his wife, People reported.
He told lottery officials that he purchased a $3 ticket using Online Play and added $1 to make it a Megaplier ticket. When the drawing was done on Jan. 18, his ticket matched all five white balls to win $1 million, which was then quadrupled to the $4 million based on his Megaplier ticket, officials said in the release.
“Everyone loves seeing a veteran like Mr. Fierro win big. And he won in a such a fun way. He goes out to dinner with his wife, gets some lucky numbers from a fortune cookie, and − boom − he wins $4 million. That shows you good luck can happen anytime and anywhere,” Van Denton, director of Communications, N.C. Education Lottery told Inside Edition Digital.
Denton added: “Mr. Fierro’s $4 million prize makes him the biggest winner so far in North Carolina in 2022. But with the Mega Millions jackpot now over $400 million, you could see more big wins with any drawing,” he said.
