Imagine you’ve been playing the exact same set of numbers for years on end, because you know, without a doubt, that these numbers are the numbers — the digits that are destined to bring you fame and fortune or at least, fortune. So would you rather learn you were right along but lost $1.25 million due to a twist of fate, or just never win at all?

This is a question that must be asked, after a Pennsylvania man who has been playing the same five numbers on Quinto every day realized he’d won $1.25 million, finally — but he’d accidentally thrown the 25 tickets in the trash after apparently misreading the announced winning numbers

He bought the tickets from his usual corner store back in March 2013, reports the York Daily Record, and they ended up being worth $50,000 each when his numbers hit. He had until March 13 this year to cash them in, a fact stressed in a press release from the Pennsylvania Lottery last month urging the winner to come forward.

“He was mad,” the corner store clerk said of her regular customer when he realized what he’d done. “He was so mad he played $400 that day.”

A lottery spokesman explained that unclaimed tickets are a bummer, and urged players to check and doublecheck their tickets before tossing them.

“We do what we can” to notify winners, she said. “But sometimes, it’s just not enough.”

The man replied by uncontrollably sobbing, I imagine.

Man threw away $1.25 million worth of lottery tickets, York store says [York Daily Record]

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