The $7.3 million Oregon’s Game Megabucks winning ticket started out as a lucky mistake.
When Charles Svitak of Central Point noticed the Oregon’s Game Megabucks jackpot was more than $7 million, he went to his local 7-Eleven to pick up a ticket. When he went to buy the ticket, the clerk told him that there were two mistake tickets that had already been printed, and offered him the chance to purchase them. Svitak opted to buy one of the two tickets.
Svitak said he went out to his vehicle, thought about it, then went back in and purchased the other mistake ticket – a decision that turned out to be worth $7.3 million.
“When I checked the ticket on my computer I couldn’t believe it,” Svitak, who works a graveyard shift in Medford, said. “The first thing I thought is that I had worked my last graveyard shift. It was a very good day.”
Svitak immediately traveled to Salem to claim his prize – without telling his wife.
“On the way home I got a new truck and put the oversized check they gave me on the windshield,” he said. “Then I took her out to show her truck and she realized I won the lottery. She hasn’t stopped giggling since.”
Svitak took the lump sum option and was given a check for $3.65 million for his prize. The couple said they are talking to a financial planner and said they planned on traveling and purchasing a couple of new vehicles with the winnings.
The winning ticket was sold at the 7-Eleven on Front Street in Central Point on Saturday, June 16 -- the day of the draw. Svitak became the 284th Oregon’s Game Megabucks millionaire since Nov. 20, 1985, when the game first launched. William Breese of Portand was the last Oregon’s Game Megabucks jackpot winner, $8.9 million, in March.
During the 2015-17 biennium, more than $34 million in Oregon Lottery proceeds were directed to economic development, parks, education and watershed enhancement in Jackson County, where Svitak lives.
Source: Oregon Lottery