Woman discovers she won $3 million in lottery while checking her email spam folder

A Michigan woman accidentally discovered she won $3 million in the state lottery while checking her email spam folder.

Laura Spears of Oakland County might have missed the news indefinitely, had she not been looking for something else, according to a Jan. 21 Michigan Lottery news release.

“I was looking for a missing email from someone, so I checked the spam folder in my email account,” Spears, 55, said in the release.

“That’s when I saw an email from the lottery saying I had won a prize.”

The email was days old.

Spears quickly logged into her Michigan Lottery account and learned it was true. Her win in the Mega Millions game came on Dec. 31, when she matched numbers on five white balls: 02-05-30-46-61.

The prize was $1 million, but the Megaplier program multiplied her winnings by three, officials said.

“I couldn’t believe what I was reading,” she said in the release. “It’s all still so shocking to me that I really won $3 million!”

Odds of winning $1 million in the game are 1 in 12,607,306, while odds of a bigger jackpot are an astounding 1 in 302,575,350, according to Megamillions.com.

Spears recently claimed her money, telling lottery officials she intended to retire earlier than planned. She also plans to share some of the money with her family.

“I definitely added the Michigan Lottery to my safe senders list just in case I ever get lucky enough to receive another email about a huge prize,” Spears said.

Tickets in the game are $2 and the Megaplier is added with an additional $1, according to the game website. Mega Millions tickets are sold in 45 states and Washington, D.C.

This story was originally published January 24, 2022 at 6:20 AM with the headline "Woman discovers she won $3 million in lottery while checking her email spam folder."