A lucky lottery winner had claimed a USD 50,000 jackpot after he nearly threw away his winning ticket with the rubbish.

A sales worker – identified only as Mambo, 22 – has told how he was about to chuck out the scratchcard because he thought it had already been checked.

Relieved Mambo – from the community of Temple Hills, Maryland State, USA – explained: “We were going to throw the ticket away. We are lucky we didn’t!”

The winner told how he had bought USD 30 (GBP 25) of scratch-offs when he stopped at the Wawa #584 convenience store in the city of La Plata, Charles County, when he decided to try his luck.

He said in a statement obtained by Newsflash from Maryland Lottery: “I had a few bucks in my pocket and I decided to play.”

Mambo and his wife had made two piles of scratched-off tickets – for winners and losers.

He noticed a high jackpot Gold X20 ticket on the loser pile which had already been scratched but decided to check it again.

And to his astonishment, it came up as a winner, which will help the couple find a new home.

He said: “We were both deciding if we should try to get a house in this tough market. We will get one now.”

Maryland Lottery added: “Mambo won the game’s fifth of nine USD 50,000 [GBP 41,482] top prizes.”

The convenience store where the ticket was bought will receive a USD 500 (GBP 415) bonus for selling a top prize scratch-off.