Mistakenly sold lottery ticket earns couple $1 million

LAKEWOOD, N.J. (AP) -- A mistakenly sold lottery ticket has earned a New Jersey couple $1 million.

State lottery officials say 70-year-old Dante Castillo usually picks his own numbers. But when the Manchester man bought some tickets for last Thursday's Cash4Life jackpot at a convenience store in Lakewood, the clerk accidentally sold him a ticket with computer-generated numbers.

That ticket proved to be the winner, matching the five main numbers drawn but not the cash ball number.

Castillo and his wife chose the $1 million prize instead of the option to receive $1,000 a week for life. The convenience store will receive a $10,000 bonus check from lottery officials for selling the winning ticket.

Cash4Life also is played in Georgia, Indiana, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and Virginia.