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Spur-of-the-moment decision pays off for Nebraska man

Brant Edgington

Drawing Date: 3/22/2024

April 5, 2024 - Brant Edgington of Fremont, Neb., won $1 million playing Mega Millions from the Nebraska Lottery.

Edgington purchased his ticket at Baker’s #323 at 1531 N Bell St. in Fremont. The ticket contained five quick pick plays for the March 22 drawing, one of which which matched all of the five winning numbers (03, 08, 31, 35, 44) but not the Mega Ball (16).

Although his dad and grandfather are avid Mega Millions and Powerball players, Edgington said he really only plays when the jackpot gets high and wasn’t expecting to buy a ticket at all. He’d stopped into Baker’s to grab a premade salad for lunch the next day and decided to play a few bucks worth of Mega Millions.

There was another person ahead of him cashing in a pile of Scratch tickets, but he decided to stick around. It wasn’t until the following Saturday that Edgington took a look at his tickets.

He’d been trying to use the Check-a-Ticket scanner but was having a little bit of trouble getting it to read and asked a clerk to check it. “They disappeared for a minute,” he said. “Then a different lady came up with her and they just stared at me. She told me, ‘Don’t pass out when I tell you this.’”

Edgington managed to stay on his feet and made his way down to the Nebraska Lottery’s Lincoln offices on April 5 to claim his prize.

Even though he’s won he’s not sure he’ll keep playing long term. “I don’t play all that often,” he said. “As a single parent, baloney is more important, financially.”

Mega Millions is a multi-state jackpot game currently offered by 45 state lotteries, the District of Columbia, and U.S. Virgin Islands. The odds of winning $1 million playing Mega Millions are 1 in 12,607,306 while the overall odds of winning any prize are 1 in 24.