These lottery players received the best birthday gift: winning tickets

One of the best parts of your childhood birthdays was blowing out your candles and making a wish. One of the worst parts was how rarely those wishes actually came true.

Whether you wanted a pony or a Ferrari, you usually had to settle for a Hot Wheels car or a Barbie doll.

Lottery tickets are a popular present on holidays and birthdays, and while no one who gives them actually expects the recipient to become a millionaire, sometimes wishes do come true, and these games pay off big.

These are true stories of lottery players who won big with lottery tickets they received as birthday gifts.

Middle-aged millionaire

Turning 40 is a major milestone birthday, and many people take the time to reflect on their lives and plan for what’s to come as they hit middle age.

However, one man from Braidwood, Illinois, used it as a chance to become a millionaire.

A friend bought a Lotto Million 2 ticket for the August 8, 2026, drawing from a Gas N Wash in New Lennox and gave it to the winner as a gift at his 40th birthday party. The winner, who chose to remain anonymous, told lottery officials:

My wife planned a party for my big day. One of my friends handed me an envelope with some scratch-offs inside. I never would’ve imagined actually winning.

The man wasn’t a frequent lottery player and, after checking his tickets, he wasn’t sure whether he had won or not. He explained:

I didn’t even think I won anything at first glance. I had one of my friends check the ticket. He must’ve also overlooked it, because he said I only won a grand.

He said he was thrilled to win that much. “I thought, ‘Wow, a thousand bucks isn’t bad; this was a great day.’ But I was not prepared for what came next.”

A few days later, the man and his wife went to an Illinois Lottery prize center to claim their money, only to receive the shock of a lifetime. He recalled:

We told the staff that I won a thousand dollars. One of the workers smiled and said, ‘Sir, you actually won a million dollars.’ I was in complete shock. My wife even started tearing up.

The man said he plans to use the money for his family’s annual trip to Florida, and he’ll also buy a new car and a new golf cart:

We’ll be going on a cruise to celebrate our 40th anniversary and my kids’ birthdays. I told them, ‘Dad’s paying.’

And he wasn’t the only winner. The store that sold the winning ticket also pocketed a cool $10,000 as a sales bonus.

Thanks dad

In MTV’s My Super Sweet 16, the birthday eeeeekid often got a fancy new car or a luxury vacation from their parents. Those presents are great, but they can’t top the gift Bich Ha’s father gave her for her birthday.

When the San Francisco woman turned 29 in 2017, her dad gave her a Crossword Deluxe scratch-off game purchased from Woerner’s Liquor in the Tenderloin neighborhood.

She uncovered the ticket but wasn’t sure what all of the different symbols meant. She gave the ticket to her dad to check, and he told her, “You won a lot of money!” It turns out her ticket won a $2 million prize.

Ha was so excited to win that she sent her husband, Calvin Yee, an urgent text at work without explaining what had happened. Yee explained to the reporters:

I thought something bad happened. I rushed over there. She’s always talking about it in terms of what to do in the future. This has been really exciting.

Ha intends to pay her good fortune back and says that she’d like to use the money to purchase a home for her parents in the city.

Family first

There’s never a bad time to win the lottery, but one of the best times to win is when you’re facing unexpected financial pressure.

That was the case for North Carolina resident Omar Thaher in July 2023, who was celebrating his birthday when he learned he had to make an emergency trip overseas and felt stressed about paying for it.

A friend gifted him a $30 Black Titanium scratch-off card they purchased at a Joy Mart store in Durham. Thaher uncovered the ticket and discovered it was worth $100,000. He told lottery officials:

It was like a dream. I’ve never won anything before. I really, really needed this. I’m about to travel overseas for a family emergency, so this came at the perfect time.

He also said that he would use the prize for a down payment on a house.

After traveling to the lottery headquarters, he cashed in his ticket for $71,259 after tax withholdings.

Like father, like son

A father and son in Macomb County, Michigan, had plenty to celebrate when the senior unwrapped his birthday gift from junior.

The pair, who chose to remain anonymous, are members of a local lottery club, and the son decided to buy his dad a $1 Lotto 47 draw game ticket from his dad’s favorite store. The son told lottery officials:

I bought the ticket for my father as a birthday gift. I don’t buy tickets often, but when I do, I always buy them at Liquor Land because I remember my father always bought tickets there when I was a kid.

He bought the ticket for the December 14, 2017, Lotto 47 drawing, and when the big day came, they matched all of the winning numbers and won the game’s top prize of $1.1 million.

“When my dad checked the ticket after the drawing, he had to look at it more than a few times to believe what he was seeing.”

After visiting Michigan Lottery headquarters together, they chose the one-time payout and took home a check for $763,000.

They plan to use the money to pay off their bills and invest in a business.

Better late than never

New York resident Igor Topchivy admitted he was a little annoyed when his fiancée didn’t give him a present on his birthday. However, she made up for it in a big way by giving him his gift a few days later.

She purchased a $1,000,000 Silver and Gold scratch-off ticket from the Hanna Deli & Grocery in Brooklyn. He scratched it and saw he matched the number 24. He knew he had won a prize but wasn’t sure how much.

They took it back to the store and asked the clerk to scan it and tell them how much it was worth.

“I handed the ticket to the store owner, who kept yelling, ‘It’s a winner. It’s a winner!’” Topchivy told lottery officials.

It turns out he had won the game's top prize of one million dollars. He chose the lump-sum payout and collected a check for just over $510,000 after tax withholdings.

Topchivy said he had bought lottery tickets since the day he first arrived in America from Russia nine years ago, but now that he had won, he had no idea how to spend the money.

“You can dream of everything, but when it happens,” he said, “you change your mind, you know?” He added that the money would help him pay for his wedding.

What’s even more fascinating is that this is the second time he won the lottery, although the first prize was more valuable than cash.

Topchivy and his mother won a green card lottery that allowed them to move to America and eventually become citizens. He worked in construction but was unemployed when he collected his money, making his win particularly timely.

Brotherly love

While sibling rivalries are common in families, it's all love for one Michigan lottery player after her big brother gave her the birthday present of a lifetime.

Every year, the man gifted his sister a lottery ticket for her birthday, and this year he bought her a $1,000,000 Jumbo Cash scratch-off ticket at Parkway Foods in Detroit, MI. When she uncovered the player numbers, she revealed a symbol that said “1 MIL,” and she knew she had just won the jackpot. She told state lottery officials:

My brother buys me a Lottery ticket for my birthday every year. I scratched the ticket, and when I saw I won $1 million, I was in complete shock. I am happy when I win $20, so winning a $1 million prize is an amazing feeling.

The woman chose the lump sum payout and walked away with $634,000 before paying taxes. She says she plans to use her prize to buy a new car and take care of her family.

Win/Win

The next time Gjergji Prifti buys his wife a birthday present, he’d better pick out something expensive.

The Boston resident was celebrating his own birthday when his wife gifted him a five-dollar $1,000,000 Double Jackpot scratch-off ticket she bought at the Richdale Convenience Store in Ipswich.

Prifiti uncovered the ticket and revealed the jackpot symbol, making his ticket worth $1,000,000. He and his wife went to the Massachusetts state lottery offices, where they opted for the lump-sum payout and collected a check for $650,000.

While Prifiti’s wife bought the ticket for him, it’s a win for both of them, since as his spouse, she’s entitled to the jackpot too.