Minnesota Mega Millions Winners Claim Jackpot
Roseville, MN (KROC-AM News) - Minnesota's newest millionaires have reported to the state lottery headquarters to claim their prize but we may never know their identities.
The Minnesota Lottery this afternoon announced the winners of the April 12 Mega Millions jackpot have come forward to claim the cash option prize of nearly $67 million. It was the first Mega Millions jackpot claimed in Minnesota since the state joined the multi-state lottery game 12 years ago.
Lottery officials say the winners are a married couple who have chosen to remain anonymous under the state's new anonymity law. They did reveal that their first date in April 1990 was on the same day Minnesota's first lottery scratch tickets went on sale and they "shared a pizza and played scratch tickets."
Since then, she has been basically playing the same numbers for many years and has been playing the Mega Millions game faithfully since the end of last year. A news release quoted her as saying, “Thank goodness! If I had seen those numbers and I didn’t have a ticket …”
After dozing off the evening of April 12, she told lottery officials she woke up after 10 PM and used her cell phone to check the numbers, and recognized her numbers immediately. After rechecking to make sure, she texted her husband, who was in the basement watching sports, and ordered him, "Come up here right now, I'm not even kidding."
The couple reported they went to work as usual the next morning after only giving a couple of hours of sleep, but admitted not getting much work done. After informing some of their relatives and coworkers the lucky couple brought in an attorney, financial advisor, and an accountant before making the trip to Roseville to collect the jackpot.
They described their immediate plans as "typical," saying they would like to buy a house and car and do some traveling.
The winning ticket was purchased at a Holiday convenience store in the town of Ramsey. The owner of the business will receive a $50,000 bonus for selling the ticket.