For Minnesota player, illusion becomes reality!

Drawing Date: 1/30/2018

February 1, 2018 – When Bloomington, Minn., resident Patty Loberg heard that a $1 million winning Mega Millions ticket was sold at Mike’s Gas for Less in Bloomington – the same location that her ticket was purchased at – she purposely waited a couple of hours to check her ticket.

She had learned about the $1 million winning ticket from her husband Carl Loberg who had stopped by the store. “I was teasing [a store employee] because she didn’t sell the winning ticket to me, then I called Patty and said, ‘You might want to take a look at your ticket.’”

She did not want to check the ticket right away because, “I wanted to have the illusion that I was the winner for a while longer,” she said. Loberg’s “illusion” became reality after she discovered she was holding the $1 million winning ticket.

Loberg checked her ticket on the Lottery’s website, “five times, before I believed it.” Then went to Mike’s Gas for Less and asked a store employee to check the ticket for her. “I said, ‘I think I won – no seriously – I think I won,’” she recalled. “He checked the ticket and then gave me a big hug and we all started screaming!”

Loberg’s winning ticket matched the first five numbers drawn on Jan. 30 to win the $1 million prize. Mike’s Gas for Less earned a $5,000 bonus for selling the winning ticket.