Forgotten Pants Reveal $5.9M Lottery Win

An old pair of pants turned into a life-changing discovery for a New Jersey resident who found a multi-million-dollar lottery ticket in an unlikely place.

$5.9M Lottery Prize in Back Pocket of Forgotten Pants

A ticket for a winning Pick-6 worth $5.9 million had been sitting unnoticed for nearly a year after being purchased in May 2025 at a gas station in Roseland. The ticket holder did not realize the significance of the ticket until late April, when reminders were made public about the expiration deadline for an unclaimed jackpot, as reported by NJ.com.

Lottery officials said the ticket was bought at the store where the man was a regular. When he learned that only a handful of regular customers played that particular game, he started to think he might be the missing winner. Encouraged by store staff, he chose to do a thorough search at home.

He rummaged through drawers, surfaces, and other common hiding places, but there was no luck, and by all accounts, this took him a while. Then his eyes went to his closet. He searched the pockets of the clothes, one by one, until he found the long-lost ticket, crumpled up in a pair of pants he had not worn in months.

The ticket had all six numbers from the May 22, 2025, drawing, winning the jackpot prize, officials said. He lost no time in taking it to lottery headquarters in mid-May 2026, a little over a week before it would have expired and been invalid. 

Lottery Urges Players to Check Tickets After Close Call

Lottery officials said it is rare for prizes that large to go unclaimed, but smaller wins are often left unclaimed. Tickets can easily get lost in everyday items such as wallets, purses, or clothes, they said, and players are encouraged to double-check regularly.

There is a steep chance of hitting the Pick-6 jackpot – it is more than 9 million to 1. And with those long odds in mind, the case is also a reminder that even a lost lottery ticket can be worth a fortune.

Players are encouraged to check their tickets using the official tools, including scanning options at retail locations and the digital tools offered by the lottery. Had the ticket not been located in time, the prize money would have gone back into the lottery’s funding pool.

Yet, a potential lost fortune turned into a last-minute windfall thanks to a diligent search and a touch of persistence.