Former NBA star Gilbert Arenas won $300,000 in the California lottery without playing the game. All he remembers is his encounter with a homeless man that night. Here is what happened. Gilbert who is regular at a gas station where he also plays the lotto game was on his way there on May 12. The former Washington Wizards point guard stated in his Instagram account the miracle he experienced that day.
In the post, he explained, after rushing outside the house to play lotto numbers he got into the car without carrying his wallet. The car was almost out of gas and he had only $10 in his pocket. When he was near the gas station, a man approached him and asked for some change. "Hey sir can u spare me some change," the man said.
What happened on May 12?
The first thought on Arenas' mind was that he didn't have time for all this. But took a minute and told the man that he had only $10 to fill up the gas and had to rush towards the next gas station where he would play the lotto game. The gas station was just seven minutes away. But as he did not want to waste time and lied to the man saying he was going to Thousand Oaks that was 16 minutes away. Then he felt bad for the man and told he will fill up the gas for $5 and asked the man to take the remaining $5.
The response of the man was shocking as he told Arenas that he can't reach the place with $5 worth gas. "Keep the $10 and if you win give me $20," he told Arenas and left the place. But by the time Arenas reached the gas center they had closed early and he didn't get to play his numbers
But next morning Arenas received a message saying "Congratulations U won 300k." He thought that it was a scam and did not bother to reply. When he went to the gas station later that day to play Powerball, the owner of the gas station ran towards him and shouted: "You won."
Blessing or a miracle?
But Arenas had not played the day before to win any money and stared at the gas station owner in disbelief. Then the gas owner explained that as he wanted to close early, he played in Arenas's name with the usual numbers the NBA star would play.
After rushing out of the gas station, he remembered the homeless person who had asked for the change and thought it must have been his blessings that he had won. He went to the man and gave him a sum of money (Arenas did not reveal any details of the homeless man nor the amount stating it was for the man's safety).
"He jumped up and hugged me for 5 minutes crying and then started to pray. I've given back to the homeless but never was blessed by one. His good-hearted gesture of me making it back home blessed that ticket," Arenas wrote in his Instagram post.
