"I kept winning these smaller amounts and just kept rolling it over and over into more tickets," James said. "I thought to myself, 'I'm never going to hit the end of these tickets'. It just kept going and going."
He said the first win led to a six-week winning streak that culminated in a Super Special Ultimate Bingo Scratch ticket winning him a $140,000 top prize on Wednesday.
James visited lottery headquarters on Thursday to collect his winnings. He said he hopes to be able to tell the passenger about the good luck that came of the unusual tip.
"I very rarely get the same passenger multiple times, but I'd picked up this guy a few times," James said. "I haven't been able to find him yet and tell him about this, but I hope I do."
The driver said he plans to use some of his winnings to pay his parents back for money they loaned him in the past, while the rest will go toward upgrading the vehicle he uses to drive for Uber and Lyft.
