Man had $3 million lottery ticket for weeks — and didn’t know, Idaho officials say

A Utah man who fell just short of a $400 million lottery jackpot still came away with $3 million — after he finally checked his ticket, Idaho officials said.

J. Refugio Gonzalez Almeida made two trips from Utah to Malad, Idaho, to be sure he had a ticket for a July 4 Mega Millions drawing, the Idaho Lottery said in a news release.

“Playing the Lottery is my hobby. When I didn’t win the jackpot on that Friday, I thought ‘I need a ticket for the 4th of July,’ so I drove back to Malad on Saturday,” Almeida said.

In the July 4 drawing, which also fell on his birthday, Almeida got five out of six winning numbers, just missing the overall jackpot, officials said.

He scored a megaplier of three, turning his $1 million win into $3 million, officials said.

But Almeida didn’t know it until he returned to the store to scan his tickets a month later, the lottery said.

“I had $2, $8, not a lot,” Almeida said. “And then they scanned this one and told me I had to take it to the Lottery Commission. So here I am!”

He said he plans to invest his winnings.

What to know about Mega Millions

To score a jackpot in the Mega Millions, a player must match all five white balls and the gold Mega Ball.

The odds of scoring a jackpot prize are 1 in 302,575,350.

Tickets cost $2 and can be bought on the day of the drawing, but sales times vary by state.

Drawings are held Tuesdays and Fridays at 11 p.m. ET and can be streamed online.

Mega Millions is played in 45 states, Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

This story was originally published August 13, 2023 at 7:37 AM with the headline "Man had $3 million lottery ticket for weeks — and didn’t know, Idaho officials say."