Oakland County woman nearly throws away $100,000 winning lottery ticket

Astute clerk steps in to save woman throwing out ticket

NOVI, Mich. – An aware store clerk saved an Oakland County woman from throwing away a $100,000 winning lottery game ticket.

Melissa Dean said she bought two Triple Your Luck tickets at the Smokers Express on West Pontiac Trail in Novi. She won $15 on one of the tickets, but she didn't think the other ticket was a winner, according to a news release from the Michigan Lottery.

"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."

The clerk, Raj Patel, took a look at the ticket and realized it was a $100,000 winner.

"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," said Dean.

Mike Dorra was in the store at the time.

"On the 2nd one, she said, ‘This is a losing ticket,'" Dorra said. "Raj then scratched the rest of the ticket and said, ‘You won!'"

You could say Raj is a good luck charm. Not only did he save the day for Dean, he's sold three other big winning tickets over the past few years: two $1 million dollar tickets and one other $100,000 prize.

"I said to her, 'Ma'am you won something very big!'" Patel said. "I came over and checked 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 zeros, you won $100,000!"

The Michigan Lottery said Dean collected her prize on Monday. Dean said she rarely plays the lottery. She plans to buy a new car and invest the rest, and take a vacation.

"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," she said.