LANSING, April 7, 2003 – Julius Gallardo of Detroit could not believe his eyes when he recently looked at a Mega Millions ticket he purchased and realized he had matched the first five numbers in the October 11, 2002

Mega Millions drawing to win a $175,000 prize! The winning numbers for that day’s drawing were:
9, 11, 17, 26, 41 and the Gold Mega Ball number was 29.

The winning Mega Millions "easy pick" ticket was purchased at Variety Foods, 7345 Schaeffer Road, in Dearborn.

"I was sorting through some old tickets and realized there was an unclaimed $175,000 Mega Millions prize from October," said Gallardo. "I looked up the winning numbers from that day’s drawing in the newspaper and when I saw that I was the winner, my first thought was, ‘Oh Boy!’"

The 78-year-old retiree said he kept the winning ticket in a safe deposit box before turning it in at Lottery headquarters
 in Lansing.

Gallardo, who enjoys playing Lottery games in his free time, told Lottery officials that he plans to invest his winnings
for the future.

On Wednesday, May 15, 2002 Mega Millions replaced The Big Game. Mega Millions is a multistate lottery game in Michigan, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Virginia and Washington. Wagers cost $1 each and tickets may be purchased at more than 7,000 Michigan Lottery retailers statewide.

Mega Millions drawings are conducted every Tuesday and Friday at 11 p.m. The next Mega Millions drawing is Tuesday, April 8, with an estimated jackpot of $15 million. For more information about Mega Millions, visit the Michigan Lottery’s Web site at www.michigan.gov/lottery.

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