Once in a while, the dream of winning a lottery comes true for an Average Joe. That’s exactly what happened to Steve Tran, from Northern California after he forgot about the winning ticket which had been placed on top of his drawer.

While millions of people buy lottery tickets, few actually believe that they could win big bucks.

That’s exactly what happened to Steve Tran, from Northern California.

On December 17th, the winning Mega Millions numbers were announced for the $648 million jackpot. Half the money belonged to a woman, the remaining 324 million went unclaimed.

Tran followed the news coverage, wondering who the insanely lucky winner was. Days passed, then a week. No one came forward.

Meanwhile the winning ticket rested on one of Tran’s drawers, among a stash of other losing tickets. Tran, who works as a delivery driver, had purchased a bunch of tickets from businesses along his route.

The media released that the ticket had been purchased at a gift shop in San Jose. That little tidbit may have helped jog Tran’s memory. From a dead sleep, he woke up at 3 am and remembered purchasing numerous quick picks in San Jose.

He shot out of bed and checked the numbers, finally realizing he was the mystery winner. One of the first things he did was call his work supervisor, stating “I'm really sorry boss. I hit the jackpot. I don't think I'm going to come in today, tomorrow, or ever.”