Michigan nurse discovers $3M winning lottery ticket notification in SPAM folder

An Oakland County nurse got a surprise of a lifetime when checking her emails. Laura Spears, 55, ticket matched the five white balls.

Laura Spears, $3 Million Mega Millions Prize winner. (CREDIT: Michigan Lottery)

An Oakland County nurse got a surprise of a lifetime when checking her emails. Laura Spears, 55, ticket matched the five white balls on Dec. 31, 2021, after checking her spam folder.

“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,” said Spears. “A few days later, I was looking for a missing email from someone, so I checked the spam folder in my email account.



The winning numbers were 02-05-30-46-61. Initially, the drawing was to win a $1 million prize, but Megapiler had the prize multiplied to $3 million, according to a press release.

Spears said, "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 $3 million!”

For an additional $1 per play, "Megalier" can multiply non-jackpot prizes by up to five times. The last time a Mega Millions jackpot was won was on Oct. 22, 2021.


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Spears told Michigan Lottery that she plans on sharing her winnings with her family and retire earlier than she had planned. Online records show she works as a nurse.

The 55-year-old nurse said she plans to retire early and share her windfall with family (CREDIT: Laura Spears, Facebook)


“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,” Spears said.

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Tags: #Good_News, #Lottery, #Lucky, #Good_Fortune, #Happiness, #Joy, #The_Brighter_Side_of_News


Joseph Shavit
Joseph ShavitSpace, Technology and Medical News Writer
Joseph Shavit is the head science news writer with a passion for communicating complex scientific discoveries to a broad audience. With a strong background in both science, business, product management, media leadership and entrepreneurship, Joseph possesses the unique ability to bridge the gap between business and technology, making intricate scientific concepts accessible and engaging to readers of all backgrounds.