Long Island gardener’s fortune was blowing in the wind

Among the latest batch of New York million dollar lottery winners, one story stands out as an example of extreme and unlikely good fortune….that of Long Island landscaper Marvin Rosales-Martinez (27) as told to the New York Daily News this week.

Whilst raking leaves on a property over a year ago, he noticed a slip of paper floating down on the light breeze and landing among the leaves he was raking.

On closer inspection it turned out to be a dishevelled and damp “Win for Life” lottery ticket, which Martinez picked up, took home and dried out before taking it in to see if there was anything worthwhile on the clearly abandoned or lost slip.

There was – a million dollars-worth!

Martinez was open about finding the ticket, and had to wait for a year for his pay-out as lottery officials first tried to locate the buyer of the slip and return it to him or her. Once they were satisfied that there was no legitimate claimant it was a case of “finders keepers” and Martinez received his quite literal windfall.

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