COLUMBIA, S.C. — A Columbia man is a millionaire after he found a $1 million Mega Millions lottery ticket in a stack of old lottery tickets.
“I didn’t believe it,” he said when he finally realized he was a millionaire.
He said the ticket had been lying in a pile of old lottery tickets on his living room table for more than a month, waiting for him to check it. He purchased the ticket a while back for the January 16 drawing while grocery shopping at the Food Lion on Leesburg Road. The ticket matched the first five numbers drawn (2, 10, 42, 49, 54 and MB: 13) but missed the Megaball number to win $1 million.
The winner and his wife say they were in no rush to cash in the ticket or spend the winnings. Instead, they have decided to put their money towards retirement.
“I’ll still play from time to time,” he told lottery officials. But he said his wife’s not letting him leave his tickets on the living room table anymore -- or waiting so long to check them.
The odds of winning $1 million playing Mega Millions are one in 12,607,306. The estimated Mega Millions jackpot for Friday night’s drawing is $331 million.