News writer
You should never throw out those old lottery tickets because you just never know what you may have missed.
That is what happened to a Midlands man as he went through a stack of old lottery tickets and found a $1 million winner!
The winning ticket
The $1 million winning ticket was for the Mega Millions drawing on Tuesday, January 16. The winning white ball numbers that night were 2, 10, 42, 49, and 54, and the Mega Ball was 13. The lucky winner matched all five of the white balls but missed the Mega Ball number to win $1 million.
The odds of winning $1 million playing Mega Millions are 1 in 12.61 million.
He purchased the winning ticket while grocery shopping at Food Lion, located at 2900 Leesburg Rd. in Columbia. For selling the winning ticket, Food Lion #647 will receive a commission of $10,000.
No rush for this winner
The lucky winner definitely wasn't in a rush at any point in this process. He told South Carolina Lottery officials that the Mega Millions ticket had been lying on his living room table for over a month, along with some other tickets too. He was holding onto them, waiting to check to see if they were winners.
When he finally did check the tickets, he told lottery officials:
I didn't believe it.
From there, he was in no rush to claim his winnings or to spend it. The winner and his wife plan on saving the prize money and using it for their retirement, he told lottery officials.
Winner isn't stopping now
While he was slow to check his tickets and slow to claim his prize, the winner did say he will “still play from time to time.”
Yes, he will still be playing the Lottery every so often, but he is going to have to check for winners a lot quicker. His wife told him she's not letting him leave his tickets on the living room table anymore or wait so long to check them!
Mega Millions jackpot continues to grow
While this lucky winner hit for $1 million back in January, the current Mega Millions jackpot continues to grow. For tonight's drawing, the estimated jackpot is $331 million.
If a lucky player matches all the numbers tonight, they have the choice of taking home the $331 million jackpot as an annuity or $153.1 million in cash.
The odds of winning a Mega Millions jackpot are 1 in 302 million. Mega Millions is played in 45 states in the U.S. as well as the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands. New York and California have had the most winners for Mega Millions.
The Mega Millions draws take place on Tuesdays and Fridays at 11:00 p.m. ET. The draws are held in Atlanta, Georgia, at WSB-TV.
Enjoy playing the South Carolina Lottery, and please remember to play responsibly.
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