Denise Bazan, of Norwood, didn’t know she had won a $4 million Mega Millions prize until days after the drawing. When talking about her win, she said buying the winning ticket was actually a spur-of-the-moment decision.
“I don’t normally buy Mega Millions,” she explained. I was buying tickets for Cash4Life, the new game, and just happened to look up and say, ‘Ok, give me five of those.’”
Bazan still hadn’t check her tickets when one of her friends called a few days later.
“My friend said, ‘Well, I know you bought a Mega Millions ticket. Was it you?’” Bazan shared. “I said, ‘What are you talking about?’ and she said, ‘Someone in Mountain Grove won $4 million!’”
Using the MO Lottery app on her phone to check her tickets, she told her friend, “No, I won $4,000. Wait a minute…that’s a lot of zeroes.”
That’s when Bazan realized just how much her ticket was worth. The retired Air Force officer indicated that she plans to use some of her winnings to invest and donate to charity. The winning ticket, purchased at Murphy USA, 2106 N. Main Ave. in Mountain Grove, matched all five white-ball numbers drawn on April 16. The winning numbers were 17, 27, 28, 50 and 55. The Mega Ball number was 25 and the Megaplier® number was 4.
Bazan’s win marked the 21st time a Missouri Mega Millions ticket has won the million-dollar “Match Five” base prize. Since she added the Megaplier® feature on her ticket, which multiplies non-jackpot prizes, Bazan quadrupled her “Match Five” prize and won $4 million.
Mega Millions is a bi-weekly Draw Game with jackpots that grow until won. Tuesday’s jackpot is estimated at $297 million. In FY20, players in Wright County won more than $2.4 million in Missouri Lottery prizes.
Retailers received more than $243,000 in commissions and bonuses, and an additional $247,000 went to education programs in the county.
