--- description: A New Jersey man discovered he won a $24.1 million New York lottery jackpot after finding the lucky ticket in an old shirt title: New Jersey Man Finds $24 Million Winning Lottery Ticket in an Old Shirt image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt82828e29ec475a8b/6988e1fccf40a8a30bc49d12/new-york-lottery-winner.jpg?branch=production&width=480&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [U.S.](/section/us/) ## U.S. Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [New Jersey](/tag/new-jersey/) ## New Jersey Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # New Jersey Man Finds $24 Million Winning Lottery Ticket in an Old Shirt by [Mahita Gajanan](/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Oct 13, 2017 8:55 PM CUT  Jimmie Smith, 68, of East Orange, N.J. Jimmie Smith, 68, of East Orange, N.J.New York Lottery by [Mahita Gajanan](/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Oct 13, 2017 8:55 PM CUT A New Jersey man discovered he won a $24.1 million New York [lottery jackpot](http://time.com/money/4911535/what-was-the-biggest-powerball-jackpot-in-history/ "undefined") after finding the lucky ticket in an old shirt just days before it expired. Jimmie Smith, 68, was prompted to check his shirt pocket in May after seeing a TV report about how time was running out for the [winner to claim the lottery prize](http://time.com/4951817/powerball-lottery-winners-crime/ "undefined"). In Smith’s shirt was the winning ticket, among a pile of other tickets he had not checked. “I stood there for a minute thinking, ‘Do I see what I think I see?'” Smith [told NJ.com](http://www.nj.com/lottery/index.ssf/2017/10/nj%5Fman%5Fbeats%5Fdeadline%5Fclaims%5F241m%5Fprize.html "undefined"). “I had to stick my head out the window and breathe some fresh air. I was in serious doubt. I really had to convince myself this was real.” Smith came forward as the winner on May 23, though lottery officials did not announce he had won until Wednesday. Smith said he has bought lottery tickets in New York and New Jersey since the 1960s but does not always bother to check if they win. “I always told myself, ‘I’ll check them when I have the time,'” he said. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4982377/new-jersey-lottery-ticket-shirt/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4982377/new-jersey-lottery-ticket-shirt/"},"headline":"New Jersey Man Finds $24 Million Winning Lottery Ticket in an Old Shirt","datePublished":"2017-10-13T20:55:26.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T17:51:43.104Z","description":"He found it just days before it was due to expire","url":"https://time.com/4982377/new-jersey-lottery-ticket-shirt/","keywords":["New Jersey","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt82828e29ec475a8b/6988e1fccf40a8a30bc49d12/new-york-lottery-winner.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Mahita Gajanan","jobTitle":"Gajanan is an editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt82828e29ec475a8b/6988e1fccf40a8a30bc49d12/new-york-lottery-winner.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"new-york-lottery-winner","caption":"Jimmie Smith, 68, of East Orange, N.J.","creditText":"New York Lottery","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/new-jersey/","name":"New Jersey"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4982377/new-jersey-lottery-ticket-shirt/","name":"New Jersey Man Finds $24 Million Winning Lottery Ticket in an Old Shirt"}}]}] ```