Veteran Plays Lotto From Fortune Cookie

The numbers inside a fortune cookie indeed brought fortune to a retired Army veteran who is now $4 million richer.  Gabriel Fierro, 60, of North Carolina, visited Red Bowl restaurant in Charlotte and bought a $3 Mega Millions ticket after with an added dollar to make it a Megaplier ticket to multiply the winnings, according to a news release from the NC Education Lottery.

“I don’t usually play my fortune cookie numbers but I tried them on a whim,” he said. “I got an email in the morning and I just stared at it dumbfounded,” Fierro told NC Education Lottery. “I took it and showed it to my wife, and she thought it was an April Fool’s joke or maybe a scam.”

Fierro, 60, spent 32 years in the Army and retired as a disabled combat veteran after touring in Iraq, according to the release.  He took home $2,840,401 after taxes and said he planned to invest most of the money but had to make one purchase after picking up his winnings.  “We are going to buy some champagne on the way home,” Fierro said.