The local man who hit a $1 million jackpot in last Friday’s Mega Millions drawing has come forward to claim his winnings.
The Kentucky Lottery noted that the man wishes to remain anonymous.
The man arrived at lottery headquarters in Louisville on Tuesday with his winning ticket after he returned to the Kroger store on Dixie Highway in Erlanger where the ticket had been purchased. He wanted to make sure that it was a winner, lottery officials said, so it was scanned for confirmation at the Kroger store.
The winning ticket matched the five white balls number but missed the Mega Ball, good enough for the game’s second-highest prize of a million bucks.
“I saw the message, ‘prize exceeds cashing limit.’ I really wasn’t sure how much it was for,” he said. He told lottery officials he heard someone from Kroger tell him they had sold a million dollar ticket.
“It’s me, maybe,” he told them. “I called the number on the back of the ticket, gave them the numbers and they confirmed it was the winner,” he said.
He purchased a $20 ticket with 10 sets of numbers and chose to let the terminal pick his numbers (Quick Pick). It was the first set of numbers on the ticket (Line A) that won.
“It’s amazing, and to think I sometimes forget to check my tickets and misplace them,” he told officials.
He walked away with a check for $710,000, after taxes. He tells officials he’s looking to buy a business with his winnings.
Kroger will receive a $10,000 bonus for selling the winning ticket.