Guy's Joke About Lottery Win Proves a Prescient One

Charles Smith is probably joking about a lot more these days. That's because a wisecrack he made to his wife earlier this summer turned out to be prescient, and he's now nearly $230,000 richer, per WAVY. The man from Newport News, Va., was saying goodbye one day in mid-July to his spouse, who was leaving for a trip to another state, and as they bid their farewells, Smith snarked, "I'll call you when I win the lottery," per Virginia Lottery. "Oh, right," she replied.

Fast forward a few days, when he actually got to make that call to her, after checking a ticket he'd purchased in Virginia's Cash 5 With EZ Match game for the July 17 drawing and discovering he'd won $227,037. "Of course, she thought I was joking," Smith says of his wife's reaction when she answered the phone. CNN notes that reaction isn't surprising, as the odds of winning the jackpot are 1 in 749,398.

Smith says he picked the winning numbers of 4-6-8-12-15 by using family member birthdays. He notes he plans to pay some bills with his winnings, with no other immediate plans for the cash. "My wife still thinks I'm joking!" he tells lottery officials. Note to self: Joke to friends about winning Tuesday's Mega Millions. (More uplifting news stories.)