Lottery winner hits $3 million jackpot after checking ticket left in nightstand for weeks
PORTSMOUTH, Va. (Gray News) - A Virginia woman recently cashed in her Mega Millions lottery ticket after waiting weeks to check she had indeed the winning numbers.
According to the Virginia Lottery, Melena Hill’s $3 million ticket had been sitting in a nightstand drawer since January.
She reportedly bought the ticket for the Jan. 9 drawing using Easy Pick, allowing the computer to randomly select six numbers for her.
When the winning numbers were drawn, Hill’s ticket matched the first five numbers, missing only the Mega Ball number.
Lottery officials said Hill spent an extra dollar for a Megaplier option when she bought the ticket and ended up tripling her jackpot to the $3 million prize amount.
Upon realizing she’d won big; she said it was an amazing moment.
“I screamed a little bit. My stomach had butterflies,” Hill said.
The lucky winner bought her ticket at Murphy USA, a gas station located at 6261 College Drive in the Suffolk area.
Drawings for Mega Millions are held on Tuesday and Friday nights.
According to lottery officials, the odds of matching the first five numbers are 1 in 12,607,306.
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