An Oregonian is stunned to discover he won $8.9 million on a lottery ticket he bought and then FORGET ABOUT IT for a few months: he will now be bringing home $200,000 a year for the next 30 years.
- Wilbur Brown of Oregon won the $8.9 million Oregon Lottery jackpot after buying a ticket on Christmas Eve and then promptly forgot he was in
- “After the first few draws, I was checking my ticket,” Brown told the Oregon Lottery. “Then I just forgot about it and didn’t check”
- Three months later, when he visited Moose Lodge where he purchased the ticket, he remembered the purchase and realized that he had won by scanning his ticket.
- Brown chose 15, 33, 34, 40, 42 and 47, according to the Oregon lottery.
- The odds of hitting the jackpot were 1 in 6,135,756, with Brown receiving his $200,000 a year annuity winnings for 30 years.
An Oregonian became a multimillionaire after he cashed in a Megabucks lottery ticket he bought on Christmas Eve and forgot about it for months afterwards.
On December 24, Wilbur Brown and his friends gathered at the Moose Lodge in Springfield, Oregon. Brown followed suit when one of those friends bought a $26 to $25 ticket that allowed people to buy one Megabucks ticket for 26 consecutive draws between Christmas and February 19. He slipped the ticket into his wallet.
“After the first few draws, I was checking my ticket,” Brown told the Oregon Lottery. “Then I just forgot about it and didn’t check.”
Brown’s lucky numbers – 15, 33, 34, 40, 42 and 47 – were drawn on January 29, according to the Oregon Lottery, the eighth of 26 draws Brown paid to enter.
But Brown remembered the lost spine when he returned to Moose Lodge in February. When he scanned his ticket at the self-check lottery machine, the machine read “contact customer service.”
On December 24, Wilbur Brown bought a $26 for $25 Megabucks ticket at the Moose Lodge in Springfield, Oregon (pictured). Three months later, he remembered the ticket and realized he had won $8.9 million after scanning it.
According to the Oregon Lottery, Brown’s lucky numbers – 15, 33, 34, 40, 42, and 47 – were drawn on January 29. The odds of winning the jackpot were 1 in 6,135,756.
The server scanned his ticket and received the message “Win a big lottery”. Brown looked online to find out exactly what that meant and was stunned to learn that he had hit the $8.9 million jackpot.
The odds of winning the jackpot were 1 in 6,135,756, according to the Oregon Lottery website.
He chose the 30-year annuity option when he received his first check on March 8, and will receive his winnings incrementally, at just over $200,000 after tax, each year until the prize is paid out. He set up a trust for his winnings.
The Moose Lodge (pictured), where Brown purchased the ticket, will also receive a payout, taking the $89,000 jackpot as a retail bonus.
The lodge where he bought the ticket will also receive a payout, taking $89,000 of the jackpot as a bonus from the seller.
“The last couple of years have been a challenge for us,” Moose Lodge manager Michael Scott told KPIC 4. “The impact of such a large proportion of changes is enormous! We will be working with our members to figure out how best to use the bonus money.”
“Another thing that Wilbur’s win did,” Scott told the publication, “now everyone at the Lodge is buying Megabucks ’26 for $25′ tickets!”