Attempt to lure squirrels for dog to chase leads to lottery jackpot

Sept. 21 (UPI) -- A California woman trying to lure squirrels for her dog to chase stopped by a store to buy some nuts -- and a lottery ticket that earned her more than $550,000.

Teri Darrell said her dog loves to chase squirrels, but has a harder time since hitting old age, so she has started buying nuts to throw on the ground at a local park to attract squirrels for the canine to pursue.

Darrell said she stopped at Lake Vista Liquors in Sunnyvale to buy some nuts for a recent park excursion and noticed the Mega Millions jackpot was up to $393 million. She bought $10 worth of Quick Pick tickets and later discovered she matched the numbers 56-23-58-33-53, missing only the Mega number 6.

Darrell's ticket turned out to be worth $550,731 -- enough money to buy a lifetime's supply of nuts for the local squirrels.