Indian American Family that Owns a Convenience Store Returns $1M Lottery Ticket to Owner

Abhi Shah and his mother, Aruna Shah, who own a store in Massachusetts, are being hailed for their honesty for returning a trashed scratch off lottery ticket to the woman who had lost it.

A woman in Massachusetts who literally threw away a shot at $1 million, is getting another chance at her good fortune, thanks to an Indian American family. Abhi Shah and his mother, Aruna Shah, who own a store in Massachusetts are being hailed for their honesty for returning a trashed $1 million Diamond Millions scratch off lottery ticket to the woman who had lost it simply because their elders in India advised them to do so.

Lea Rose Fiega bought the scratch-off in March at Lucky Stop, a store owned by the Shah family in Southwick, where she was a regular customer. “I was in a hurry, on lunch break, and just scratched it real quick, and looked at it, and it didn’t look like a winner, so I handed it over to them to throw away,” Fiega said on May 24 to WBZ TV.

But the ticket was not fully scratched off and it sat in a pile in the store for 10 days until Abhi Shah, son of the store owners, noticed the unfinished $30 ticket in the trash, the New York Post reported. “One evening, I was going through the tickets from the trash and [noticed] that she didn’t scratch the number. I scratched the number and it was $1 million underneath the ticket,” Abhi was quoted as saying by local TV station WWLP. “I was a millionaire for a night,” Abhi, joked as he recounted his brief good fortune, to WBZ TV on May 24. Although he admits he had thought of buying a Tesla car, he decided to return the ticket to Leas Rose Fiega, who had bought the ticket from his mother Aruna Shah. “I mean I had $1 million in my hand and on the other hand I wanted to do something good,” he said.

Lea Rose Fiega who won $1 million lottery prize after the owners of the store where she bought the ticket returned it to her. (Photo courtesy: Massachusetts State Lottery). Top photo, Abhi Shah, left, with his parents, Aruna and Maunish, who together decided to return the lottery ticket to its rightful owner.

The family said it was not an easy decision to return the ticket. “We didn’t sleep for two nights,” said Maunish Shah, owner of Lucky Spot and Abhi’s father. So they decided to consult his parents in India. Abhi Shah told WBZ: “My grandmother said, ‘let’s not keep the ticket. It’s not right. Just give it back to them. If it’s in your luck, you’ll get it anyhow’.” The family then decided to return the ticket. Since the customer visited the store often, they knew where to find her.

The younger Shah came to find Fiega at work and told her his parents wanted to see her, according to the lottery winner. “I said ‘I’m working, and he said ‘no you have to come over.’ So, I went over there and that’s when they told me. I was in total disbelief. I cried, I hugged them,” Fiega told Salem News. “Who does that? They’re great people. I am beyond blessed,” Fiega told Salem News. Abhi Shah, talking to Salem News said, “I handed her the $1 million ticket and she freaked out and cried like a baby. She sat down on the floor right here.”

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Congratulatory messages and praise have flooded the Shah family. A customer told WBZ: “They’re just purely good people. You can tell by just talking to them.” WBZ reported that the family “is fielding congratulatory calls and interview requests from across the country”.Abhi told the WBZ that “If I had kept that million, I wouldn’t have been this famous. So, I’m glad I gave it back”.

The Massachusetts State Lottery’s Diamond Millions tickets have squares with numbers that are hidden and when the coverings are scratched off they reveal the numbers that could be the winning combination.