A routine spring cleaning became a life-changing revelation for a Mercer County couple when they discovered three long-forgotten Mega Millions tickets in the junk drawer of their house, one of which was a 1 million USD winning ticket. According to a May 23 press release from the New Jersey Lottery, the couple bought the tickets from the Speedy Mart Food Store in West Trenton on New Year's Eve but never did get around to checking the numbers

“I just opened the drawer and saw the tickets,” said one of the winners, who has chosen to remain anonymous. “I decided to get them checked. One said ‘not a winner,’ then another ‘not a winner,’ and then I scanned a ticket that said ‘winner.’” Still in doubt, the player then consulted the ticket against the numbers displayed on the official New Jersey Lottery website and recognised that they had matched the five white balls from the December 31 drawing, 13, 22, 27, 29, and 35, missing only the Mega Ball (1) for the jackpot.

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"I figured maybe 1,000 USD or 10,000 USD, I couldn't believe it was 1 million USD!" the fortunate winner said. The winning ticket was not close to expiration. New Jersey Lottery regulations provide winners a full year from the date of the drawing to come forward and claim their winnings. In this case, the couple found and came just in time, nearly six months after the drawing took place.

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The couple has already planned ideas with the winnings to keep their children out of debt. “For us, it’s more about helping the children, making sure they don’t have debt,” they told lottery officials. Officials say similar second-prize 1 million USD winning tickets in the December 31 Mega Millions drawing were sold in Florida and Minnesota. The Mega Millions prize for this upcoming Friday's drawing is 154 million USD, with a cash value of 69 million USD, the authorities added.