Novi Store Clerk Stops Woman from Pitching $100K Lottery Ticket

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That moment when a store clerk says hold on there; you really don’t want to throw away that ticket.

Or words to that effect.

The Triple Your Luck lottery scratch ticket Oakland County resident Melissa Dean bought at the Smokers Express tobacco shop on West Pontiac Trail in Novi turned out to be worth $100,000, the Michigan Lottery said in a news release. Dean, 29, bought two of the tickets for the scratch game on Friday afternoon.

One of them was a $15 winner, but she didn’t think the second ticket was a winner, so she set it aside. When she returned to the store to collect her winnings, she asked the clerk to throw the other ticket away. The clerk inspected it and scratched off the prize amount, then gave Dean the good news.

“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,” Dean said.

Dean, who said she rarely plays the lottery, collected her prize Monday. She had plenty of time over the holiday weekend to think about the windfall. Dean said she plans to buy a new car and take a vacation, then invest the rest.

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

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

Earlier this year, a Mid-Michigan couple nearly tossed a winning lottery ticket, according to a WNEM-TV. The Ogemaw County couple were on the verge of discarding a Mega Money Multiplier ticket as a dud when their friend suggested they double check it.

That’s one great friend. The ticket was worth $2 million.

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Photo of Melissa Dean via Michigan Lottery