U.S. man finds forgotten $9M lotto ticket just in time

Imagine winning $9 million USD and not even knowing it.

That's what almost happened to one Chicago man who found a forgotten winning lotto ticket in a tax folder just days before it was set to expire.

According to WBBM Newsradio, Irving Przyborski bought several tickets last year and thought he had checked the numbers on all of them. It seems the lucky ticket somehow made its way into a tax folder and wasn't noticed until Przyborski sat down to do his taxes last week.

He took the ticket to a local store where he discovered his tax bill was about to get a lot bigger —Przyborski had won $9 million.

Lottery spokesman Tracy Owens calls Przyborski a "quiet, laid back" person who didn't get too excited about his life-changing win.

Przyborski's lack of excitement is all the more surprising because his money was only days away from going to the Illinois Common School Fund. According to Owens, around $2 million worth of unclaimed lottery winnings end up in the fund every month.

The tardy claim comes on the heels of an Alberta woman who purposely waited a full year to claim her winning Western 649 ticket worth $1,006,750.

Beth Saunders of Penhold, Alberta, says she waited because she didn't want her life to change. "I don't want people to treat me differently and I don't want to treat people differently," said Saunders in a press release from Western Canada Lottery Corp.

Nice to know that in this fast-paced modern world some people are still happy to take their time.

(CBC photo)