Davenport Man Claims $2 Million Prize, Will Split The Winnings With His Stepfather

A Davenport man has claimed a $2 million Mega Millions® prize today that he won in the game’s giant jackpot drawing nearly a month earlier. Ben Sanford is splitting the winnings with his stepfather, Jason Sanford.

Ben Sanford, 37, said he’d known since shortly after the July 29 drawing that he won big, but he waited to claim the prize while he and his stepfather made plans for the winnings. The two said they usually buy tickets together and have always said they would split their winnings.

Ben Sanford said he bought six plays for the Mega Millions drawing on July 29. The game’s jackpot that night had climbed to more than $1.3 billion, the second-highest grand prize ever offered in the game.

One of Sanford’s easy-pick tickets matched the first five numbers that night to initially win $1 million. But Sanford had added the Megaplier option to his purchase, which multiplied the total winnings to $2 million.

The winning numbers in the July 29 drawing were: 13-36-45-57-67 and Mega Ball 14. The Megaplier number was 2.

Ben Sanford said he checked his tickets the night of the drawing, and yelped in surprise when he realized that one of them had hit big. He said he immediately went downstairs to share the news with his stepdad, who was half-asleep while watching sports and asked if they could talk about it in the morning.

The next day, Jason Sanford said it all became very real for both of them.

The two said they would carefully invest the winnings, and Ben Sanford may get a new car.

Comments

[Jerry Krause]

Awesome. Enjoy.

[Laurie Kroeger]

Congratulations!!!!