While checking her spam folder, a Michigan woman learned she had won $3 million in the state lottery. According to a January 21 Michigan Lottery news release, Laura Spears may have missed the news indefinitely if she hadn't been looking for something else. Spears stated that she would check her spam folder more frequently.
Discover our latest podcast
In an email inbox, the spam folder may be a shady place, full of letters promising unlimited riches that are tragically too good to be true. However, as one American woman discovered, combing through the junk mail now and then can pay off.
Rags to riches
Laura Spears got an email sent to her spam folder informing her that she had won a lottery jackpot of $3 million (£2.5 million). The 55-year-old woman who lives in Oakland County purchased a Mega Millions ticket on the Michigan Lottery website for a draw on December 31. She won $1 million (£740,000) after matching five numbers and using a 'Megaplier' to multiply her prize by three. Spears said:
I saw an ad on Facebook that the Mega Millions jackpot was getting pretty high, so I got on my account and bought a ticket.
A few days later, I was looking for a missing email from someone, so I checked the spam folder in my email account.
That's when I saw an email from the lottery saying I had won a prize. I couldn't believe what I was reading, so I logged in to my lottery account to confirm the message in the email. It's all still so shocking to me that I really won $3m.
Happy life ahead
Last week, she declared her prize at the lottery office, stating that she intends to split the money with her family and retire early. Spears remarked that she would check her spam folder more frequently. She added:
I definitely added the Michigan Lottery to my safe senders' list just in case I ever get lucky enough to receive another email about a huge prize.
On December 31, she won the Mega Millions game by matching numbers on five white balls: 02-05-30-46-61. According to Megamillions.com, the odds of winning $1 million in the game are 1 in 12,607,306, while the odds of winning a larger jackpot are 1 in 302,575,350.
