Imagine throwing away $50,004 in the garbage. Well that almost happened to Delaine Passucci, a 47-year-old woman from Charter Township of Canton in Wayne County, who was about to throw away a Powerball ticket, but decided to ask a store clerk to try and scan it one more time, that’s when she found out that the ticket was worth a $50,004 Powerball prize.

She bought the winning ticket at the Kroger store, located at 9700 Chilson Commons Circle in Pinckney, which matched four white balls and the Powerball (02-18-41-44-64 PB: 26) in the July 25, 2018, Powerball drawing to win the games third prize of $50,000 and an additional $4 on her ticket.

Asked for a comment by the Michigan lottery officials Delaine said, “ I had a few tickets for that Powerball drawing, and the self-scanner wouldn’t tell me if it was a winner,” said Passucci. “I stuck the ticket back in my wallet and decided I’d try to scan it again later. When I did, the same thing happened so I tucked it away again.

“A couple weeks later I was buying my groceries at Kroger and I stopped at the Lottery counter and scanned it again and again the scanner wouldn’t tell me if it was a winner. I was just about to toss it in the garbage when I decided to have the clerk scan it for me. When she told me, I’d have to go to the Lottery office to claim my prize, I realized I’d won too much for the self-scanner to give me a prize amount!”

Delaine visited Lottery headquarters Friday to claim her prize. With her winnings, she’s going to share with her church and then save the remainder.

“It’s been a roller coaster since I bought this ticket! I went from thinking I had a bad ticket, to thinking I won some money, to finding out I won some real money,” Passucci said.

If you buy yourself a lottery ticket, don’t forget to check it before throwing it away. It takes just a minute to scan your ticket, and it can be totally worth it.