When Utah resident J. Refugio Gonzalez Almeida returned to Idaho a month later to cash some small-dollar lottery tickets, he had no idea he was holding on to a $3 million winner.
Almeida told Idaho Lottery officials that in July, he made two trips from Utah to Malad, Idaho to purchase Mega Millions tickets for the jackpot drawing. This was not Almeida’s first time playing, telling lottery officials that playing the lottery “is my hobby.”
Like many other players, he didn’t win the initial jackpot, and drove back to Idaho to purchase a ticket for the Fourth of July weekend.
“I bought all the games, including Mega Millions,” he said. “I had a lot tickets.”
The Fourth of July Mega Millions drawing was also Almeida’s birthday, and luckily for him, his ticket matched the first five numbers, but not the Megaball. It also had the Megaplier feature, which was 3 for that drawing, tripling his $1 million winning ticket, making him a $3 million winner.
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But Almeida had no idea for the next month, until he returned to Idaho to check his tickets.
“I had $2, $8, not a lot,” he said in an Idaho Lottery news release.
Then, a worker scanned the big winner and he was told to take his ticket to the state’s lottery commission.
Almeida said he plans to invest his winnings: “I am taking this right to the bank and depositing it!”
The record-breaking Mega Millions jackpot was eventually won in August, when one lucky player in Florida matched all six numbers to win the estimated $1.58 billion prize.
