LUCK – The buzz all over Northwest Wisconsin has been about the $15.1 Million Dollar Winning Megabucks ticket that was sold locally in Luck. Officials say during the morning or afternoon hours on Tuesday, Jan. 3, a customer of Wayne’s Food Plus at 151 Butternut Avenue in Luck, purchased the winning ticket for the Wednesday, Jan. 4, drawing.
The winning numbers were 4-6-12-17-27-28. It is the largest winner ever sold by Wayne’s and the biggest Megabucks jackpot won since a $22.2 million jackpot in 2015.
One of the longest-running lotto games in Wisconsin, Megabucks is a different game from the multi-state Mega Millions which has an estimated jackpot of $940 million for the Friday drawing. The odds of winning the Megabucks jackpot are 1 in 6,991,908. The Wisconsin-only lotto game has drawings on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Tickets are two plays for $1. Megabucks tickets must be purchased before 9 p.m. on Wednesday and Saturday to be included in that day's drawing.
Paul Wondra, store manager at Wayne’s, explained, “I found out about the big win this morning when I printed my reports from the Wisconsin Lottery. It’s something I do every morning, you know? It shows you what was won from the tickets purchased at our store. I think the most I saw in the seven years I have worked here was a scratch-off ticket for around $500. And then I saw this – over $15 million. It had me doing a double take. Then it had me pulling for my own wallet because I hadn’t checked my ticket yet and I bought it around that time from the store here.”
A short time after our interview with Wondra, a state lottery official walked into the store and began the process of verifying the winner. We spoke with Jason McCullough, who works out of Rice Lake, and serves as a regional account executive for the Department of Revenue/Wisconsin Lottery. McCullough shared, “After the drawing last night an email was sent on out. So, then this morning, we were checking emails. It says Wayne's in Luck and the dollar so it makes everybody kind of get on and a little bit excited. And then the phone calls from upper management and whatnot started coming on down.”
McCullough mentioned there was multiple security protocols in place to verify who bought the winning ticket, one of which is checking store security cameras at Wayne’s around the time the winning ticket was sold to see who bought it. That was part of the reason why he traveled over from Rice Lake.
"Congratulations to Wayne's Food Plus for selling the winning ticket," said Wisconsin Lottery Director Cindy Polzin. "What a great way to start 2023. We can't wait to meet the lucky winner."
Players have 180 days from the draw date to claim their winnings. Under Wisconsin Lottery rules, the winner’s name must be made public. However, as of press time, no one has come forward yet.
According to Polzin, all winning Lottery tickets need to be signed. Lottery tickets are bearer instruments; whoever signs the back of the ticket is considered the rightful owner. Winning tickets of $200,000 or more need to be claimed in person at the Madison Lottery Office, located at 2135 Rimrock Rd., Madison, WI 53708. Winners can make appointments with the Lottery by calling the Player Hotline at (608) 261-4916.
For selling the winning ticket, Wayne's Food Plus will receive $100,000.
And if you’re curious, the odds of winning a Mega Millions jackpot are 1 in 302,575,350. Yes, that is a lot rarer than to the proverbial 1 in 1,222,000 odds of being struck by lightning that we have every year.
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