Denver Uber Driver Receives Lottery Scratcher As Tip Wins $144,000

Uber driver, identified by the Colorado Lottery only as Lakewood resident “James P.,” received an unusual tip from a passenger, a lottery scratch ticket. That ticket netted James $30, which he then used to buy more tickets. One of those tickets won him $140,000.

Lakewood resident “James P.,” was given a $5 Super Special Ultimate Bingo scratch ticket by one of his passengers. He played the ticket and won $30, which he used to buy more scratch tickets.

“I kept winning these smaller amounts and just kept rolling it over and over into more tickets,” James told the Lottery.

After six weeks of ticket scratching, James picked up the top-prize winning scratch ticket from a Centennial store on Wednesday. He went to the Denver claims office on Thursday to collect his prize money. source

James said he will give a large portion of the winnings to his parents, who have helped him financially a number of times. He also told the Lottery he plans to “soup up” his car and continue driving for Uber.

James said he had driven the passenger who gave him the ticket a number of times, but has not been able to track him down to tell him about the win.