Lottery rookie takes advantage of a package deal and emerges a multi-millionaire

By Kate Northrop

SPRINGFIELD, Ore. — An Oregon Lottery Megabucks ticket eligible for several consecutive drawings was forgotten for months until it was found to be worth an $8.9 million jackpot from a drawing in January.

A casual lottery player was influenced by his friend to buy a package deal for consecutive Megabucks drawings on Christmas Eve 2021. Several months later, he checked his ticket only to find that he had won $8.9 million in a drawing that had taken place on Jan., 29, 2022.

Wilbur Brown visited the Moose Lodge on Laura Street in Springfield with some friends on Dec. 24, 2021. While he was there, one of this friends bought a "26 for $25" Megabucks ticket, which allows a player to buy a Megabucks ticket for 26 consecutive drawings for $25. Originally, Brown had not heard of the option, but he decided to buy the same deal after seeing his friend buy one.

The ticket was valid for 13 weeks of drawings, with the first eligible drawing set to take place on Christmas 2021 and the final drawing occurring on Feb. 19, 2022. Brown tucked the ticket safely away into his billfold, where it eventually went forgotten.

"After the first few drawings, I'd check my ticket," Brown told the Lottery. "Then I just kind of forgot about it and wasn't checking."

January came about and went by, but Brown had still not checked his ticket. However, Brown had visited the Moose Lodge again in February, which reminded him about the forgotten ticket. He scanned the slip at a terminal only to be presented with a "See Customer Service" message on the screen.

The Springfield resident did as the machine told him. He brought the Megabucks ticket to a server, who scanned the ticket at their station. This time, the message on the screen was different — "Large Lottery Winner."

What the message didn't reveal was the prize amount, so Brown and his friends whipped out their phones to check the results online. Sure enough, he was a "Large Lottery Winner" of an $8.9 million jackpot.

It turns out that Brown won big on the eighth drawing on his 26-drawing ticket and beat the odds of 1 in 6,135,756 by matching all six numbers. The winning numbers for the drawing on Sat., Jan. 29, 2022 were 15, 33, 34, 40, 42, and 47.

The rookie lottery player visited the Lottery's office in Salem on Tues., Mar. 8 to pick up his first check after deciding to take the full prize as a 30-year annuity. According to the Lottery, his annual checks will total slightly more than $200,000 after taxes.

Brown has set up a trust for his prize winnings, a press release states.

The Moose Lodge also emerged a big winner following the news, which received a retailer bonus of $89,000 for selling the jackpot-winning ticket.

"The last couple years have been a challenge for us," Manager Michael Scott said. "The influence of receiving such a big chunk of change is huge! We'll be working with our members to figure out the best way to use the bonus money."

One thing's for sure, the "26 for $25" Megabucks deal has gained a lot of popularity at the retailer.

"Another thing that Wilbur's win did, was now everyone at the Lodge is buying the '26 for $25' Megabucks tickets!"