Woman LOSES ticket with selected numbers, but WINS $1,000,000 with quick pick replacement

Drawing Date: 2/16/2016

March 29, 2016 - Retired Macy’s executive Maxine Miller won a $1,000,000 second prize for matching the first five numbers drawn in the February 16 Mega Millions drawing, but the Plainview, N.Y., grandmother of seven said her win is even more shocking when you consider she lost her tickets only hours after buying them.

 “I bought a magazine at the same time I bought my tickets,” said the 69-year-old Miller. “I put the tickets in the magazine and the magazine in my pocketbook and the whole thing into the back seat of the car. What happened to those tickets remains a mystery.”

Miller said that after discovering her loss and retracing her steps to no avail, she headed to another store to purchase more tickets for the same drawing.

“I chose my own numbers the first time around, but I asked for Quick Picks this time,” she said.

Miller’s initial loss was a blessing in disguise.

“My bad luck turned into good luck just like that,” she said. “I brought my ticket to my regular store and the clerk told me I won $1,001 and gave me a receipt with the prize amount on it. I brought it to an appointment and as I sat looking at it in the waiting room, I realized there was another whole set of zeroes that we didn’t account for. I called my husband and he confirmed my ticket was worth $1,000,001. ”

Miller took home the extra dollar for matching the Mega Ball in another set of Quick Pick numbers on her ticket. The winning numbers for the February 16 Mega Millions drawing were: 09 – 31 – 33 – 46 - 64 and Mega Ball 04.

Miller said she knows she would not have won her million had she stayed with her own set of numbers. “If someone found my original ticket and checked those numbers against the winning ones, they’d be out of luck,” she laughed.

Miller said she planned to use her net payment of $661,801 prize to make her “later years a little sweeter.” She has already gifted her daughters with vacations of their choice and she’s thinking of revisiting the Dominican Republic with her husband, “just because.”

Miller bought her winning ticket at RZW Convenient Corp. on Jackson Ave. in Syosset.