Virginia man wins $1M in Mega Millions lottery after thinking he lost

MANASSAS, Va. - This man didn’t win the top Mega Millions prize, but he still won big.

Malcolm Meredith, of Manassas, Virginia, bought a lottery ticket for the May 20 Mega Millions drawing, according to the Virginia Lottery.

Soon after the drawing, he showed his ticket to a person who told him it wasn’t a winner, according to an Aug. 4 press release.

Mega Millions winners in Virginia can claim $10K prizes; Friday's jackpot grows to $1.02 billion

FOX Business reached out to the Virginia Lottery for comment.

The agency revealed on its website that Meredith’s ticket had matched the first five numbers of the Mega Millions drawing, just not the Mega Ball number.

Meredith held onto the ticket and weeks later, he got a second opinion and found out he won.

Meredith took the ticket to the state lottery’s Northern Virginia Customer Service Center in Woodbridge, Virginia, where he learned he won $1 million, the release said.

"I was hoping and praying," Meredith told the Virginia Lottery.

Meredith used the Easy Pick option, which meant the computer randomly selected his numbers, the Virginia Lottery reported.

The winning numbers – for the $131 million jackpot at the time – were 33-40-59-60-69, with 22 as the Mega Ball number.

The odds of matching the first five numbers of the Mega Millions are one in 12,607,306, according to the Virginia Lottery.

Meredith was the only person in the U.S. to match the first five numbers, the agency said.

He bought his ticket at a Harris Teeter grocery store in Manassas. The grocery store will also receive $10,000 for selling Meredith his winning ticket, the press release said.

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