Man buys lottery tickets to wait out traffic jam; wins $5 million

Everyone hates traffic jams, but last December, one man hated them so much he made a spur-of-the-moment decision to buy some lottery tickets to pass the time until traffic was clear.

One of those tickets ended up being a winner, and now Thomas Mainella will be adding an extra $5 million to his bank account. He and his fiancée sat down with "Fox & Friends" to talk about the moment he won.

'I scratched that and it said 'life' and I just went 'I'm a freaking winner!' It's like 'yay, yay, I'm a winner!' And the people in the store are like 'what? What?' And I go 'I freaking won!''

The New York Post says Mainella always had high hopes when he bought lottery tickets.

'I've always told people I'm going to win big on this game. They all thought I was crazy.'

Well, no one can call him crazy now! Mainella told the New York State Gaming Commission he always had a dream of picking up his fiancee, Donna, in a limo to tell her that he won the lottery.

Unfortunately, that dream didn't come to fruition, as no limo company had a vehicle to spare on such short notice. Instead, Mainella went back home to tell Donna the good news.

News 12 Long Island notes Mainella is just one of four winners from Long Island who were recently awarded a total of $12 million in winnings.

Mainella's life is really going to change, as he has decided to accept his winnings in annual payments of $172,000. He told "Fox & Friends" he plans to use the money to pay off some debt and to give Donna's daughter a much grander wedding than was planned.