Forgotten Mega Millions tickets — worth $1M — found 5 months later in junk drawer

A couple checked their “junk drawers” and instead of finding “a pen with a missing cap,” they came across three forgotten lottery tickets, New Jersey officials said.

Little did the duo know, one of the Mega Million tickets they bought on New Year’s Eve in Trenton would be carrying a $1 million prize, according to a May 23 news release by the New Jersey Lottery.

“I was in the house and I just opened the drawer and I saw the tickets. I decided to get them checked,” the winner told lottery officials. “I scanned them. One said ‘not a winner,’ and then another ‘not a winner,’ and then I scanned a ticket that said ‘winner.’”

Then the lucky player took the ticket home and compared the numbers on it to the lottery website, quickly learning they had “matched the five white balls,” officials said. But theyremained skeptical.

“I thought maybe $1,000. Or $10,000. I couldn’t believe it — $1 million?!?,” the winner said.

Luckily, winning lottery tickets in New Jersey have a year to be claimed before they expire, officials said.

As for what the pair will do with the money, they said, “For us, it’s more about helping the children, making sure they don’t have debt,” according to the release.

This story was originally published May 23, 2025 at 12:14 PM with the headline "Forgotten Mega Millions tickets — worth $1M — found 5 months later in junk drawer."