Woman finds winning $3 million lottery prize in her junk mail

Winning Powerball ticket sold in California

Word to the wise, lottery players: Check your junk mail. 

A Michigan woman is thanking her lucky stars after sifting through her own email spam folder and accidentally stumbling on a message from state lottery officials announcing that she'd won $3 million.

Laura Spears had bought a Mega Millions ticket online, according to an account of how she won that was posted by the Michigan Lottery. Several days after her purchase, she was searching for an unrelated item in her junk mail when she came upon the message.

"That's when I saw an email from the Lottery saying I had won a prize," she said. "I couldn't believe what I was reading, so I logged in to my lottery account to confirm the message in the email."

Sure enough, the 55-year-old had matched all five white balls in the December 31, 2021, drawing. 

"It's all still so shocking to me that I really won $3 million!"

Laura Spears of Oakland County, Michigan, won $3 million in a state lottery. Michigan Connect

Spears said she plans to share her newfound wealth with family members and is now planning to retire early.

"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," she said. 

f

We and our partners use cookies to understand how you use our site, improve your experience and serve you personalized content and advertising. Read about how we use cookies in our cookie policy and how you can control them by clicking Manage Settings. By continuing to use this site, you accept these cookies.