Act of kindness costs Florida woman $590m lottery jackpot

A Florida woman who let another customer move into a queue in front of her, thereby missing out on lottery numbers that went on to win a $590.5m (£379m) jackpot, has said she has no hard feelings.

“Things are meant to be for a reason,” said 34-year-old Mindy Cradell, who was standing in line to buy lottery tickets at a supermarket in Zephyrhills, Florida on 18 May, when she allowed Gloria Mackenzie, 84, to step in front of her. Ms Mackenzie bought a single lottery ticket.

Ms Crandall told ABC News: “My 10-year-old said ‘Mom, There’s a lady in front of us.’ I noticed that the lady was there. Didn’t pay a lot of mind to it.” Only when Ms Mackenzie appeared on TV last week to claim her jackpot did it become clear that she had surrendered winning numbers.

Ms Mackenzie acknowledged in a statement that Ms Crandall had been “kind enough” to let her cut in line.