A helpful clerk saved an Oakland County woman from throwing away a $100,000 winning Triple Your Luck instant game ticket.

“I don’t play the Lottery very often,” said Melissa Dean, of Wolverine Lake. “Blue is my favorite color and I love stars, so the Triple Your Luck ticket caught my eye.”

Dean, 29, purchased two Triple Your Luck tickets at the Smokers Express, located at 45029 West Pontiac Trail in Novi on Friday afternoon.

“I scratched the ticket and didn’t think it was a winner, so I set it aside,” said Dean. “On my second ticket I won $15, so I returned to the store to cash it in. I asked the clerk to throw the other ticket away and that is when he looked it over and scratched off the prize amount.

“He started screaming that I had won $100,000. I thought he was joking with me, but other customers looked the ticket over and told me I was a big winner. The clerk told me to sign the back of the ticket and call the Lottery office.”

It was a long holiday weekend for Dean, who came to collect her big prize Monday.

“It was the longest weekend of my life waiting for Monday to get here,” said Dean. “It did give me plenty of time to celebrate though.”

Dean plans to purchase a new car and invest the remainder of her winnings. She also is going to plan a vacation in the coming year.

“I still can’t believe I won $100,000 playing the Lottery. I keep wondering when a ticket is going to catch my eye again,” Dean said.

Each $3 Triple Your Luck ticket gives players a chance to win prizes ranging from $3 up to $100,000. About $6.5 million in prizes remain for the game, including one $100,000 prize, and 53 $1,000 prizes.

Lottery instant games are available at retailers across the state.