Midlands man finds winning ticket hidden in stack of old lottery tickets

Gene J. Puskar/AP, FILE

COLUMBIA, S.C. (WOLO)– A Midlands man has found a $1 million winning ticket in a stack of old lottery tickets, said SC Lottery officials.

The winner told officials the winning Mega Millions ticket has been lying down on his living room table for more than a month along with some other tickets as well, that he had been waiting to check.

“I didn’t believe it,” he said when he finally realized he had a winning ticket.

He bought the winning ticket while grocery shopping at the Food Lion on Leesburg Road in Columbia for the drawing on Tuesday, January 16.

The ticket matched the first five numbers drawn, but missed the Megaball number to win $1 million, said lottery officials.

The odds of winning $1 million playing Mega Millions are 1 in 12,607,306.

The estimated Mega Millions jackpot for Friday night’s drawing is $331 million.