A man in New Zealand claims he won a big pile of money by minding his manners.
The man, who did not give his name, says he won $1 million ($727,975 US) in the lottery after another customer skipped him in line to buy a ticket.
“I wasn’t in any hurry, so I just let them go ahead and didn’t say anything,” the winner wrote in a statement released by Lotto New Zealand. “I guess good karma pays off — if that hadn’t happened, they might have had the winning ticket not me.”
He also said he was at work when he discovered he’d won, according to the New Zealand Herald. He was so shocked by the news that he didn’t think to tell his wife about it until he got home later that evening. The couple plans to use the money to buy a house.
A spokesperson for Lotto New Zealand told the New Zealand Herald that the man’s placement in line had nothing to do with his win, being that ticket numbers are chosen at random.
But many machines that choose random numbers use an internal clock, so every millisecond counts, according to NBC News. The outlet suggests that someone stopping to sneeze before buying a lottery ticket could be just as effective as someone cutting you in line.
Conversely, in 2013, an 84-year-old woman won $590 million in Powerball when she cut in line to buy her ticket.
Looks like nice guys don’t always win.
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