An Ohio woman recently won a $100,000 lottery prize after accidentally buying the wrong ticket. According to the Ohio Lottery, on Wednesday, March 11, the woman from Sheffield Village planned to buy a Powerball ticket at Cap & Corks on Detroit Avenue in Lakewood, but ended up purchasing a Mega Millions ticket instead, which she realized after getting home.
Lottery officials said, she was initially frustrated about the mistake. Later, on the day of the draw, Friday, March 13, she couldn’t check the results because the strong winds across Northeast Ohio knocked out her internet.
Friday the 13th wasn’t unlucky for one local woman who accidentally won a $100,000 Mega Millions prize last week.https://t.co/Mj5sRxYXsy
— fox8news (@fox8news) March 18, 2026
However, after finally checking the numbers the following day, she discovered she had matched four white balls and the Mega Ball, which made her a 1-in-893,761 chance winner $10,000. Thanks to the 10x multiplier, she ended up receiving $100,000.
She barely slept that night, double-checking her lottery numbers as if they could change. The following day she visited the lottery office and nearly got into trouble when she forgot to put her car in park, but stopped just in time.
According to officials, she will receive $73,250 after mandatory federal and state taxes. The woman plans to cover her bills, pay off her car, give some money to her grandchildren and save the rest.
In a similar case earlier this month in Illinois, a woman couldn’t believe her luck when she won the second-largest prize ever won by an online lottery player.
A woman has claimed a $536 million Mega Millions jackpot becoming one of the largest online lottery winners in U.S. history. https://t.co/9HnUY6eh6S
— FOX 32 News (@fox32news) March 19, 2026
According to officials, cited by People Magazine‘s March 20, 2026, report, a woman identified by the pseudonym “Lucky Lady” bought her ticket through the Illinois Lottery’s iLottery platform, which she had never planned to buy. “I didn’t even plan to play that day—I had actually tried to buy a ticket online a week earlier, but I forgot to finalize the purchase. I even joked with my boss that day, saying, ‘It wasn’t meant to go through,’ ” she told lottery officials.
Later, when she decided to try again, she used Quick Pick and saw her favourite number 16, which she chose to stick with. “Once I saw my favorite number, 16, I stuck with it,” she said.
Her lucky number led to a massive $245.6 million win after mandatory federal and state taxes. “I couldn’t believe it. I was shaking and telling myself, ‘This can’t be real. I had my daughter call one of the claim centers to confirm, but it still feels unreal,” she said.
“Lucky Lady” further shared that she intends to buy a family house with a pool and use the rest of the money to achieve other dreams. “I’ve always dreamed of buying a new family house with a swimming pool. We’re also planning a family meeting soon, so a cruise or maybe even a trip to Vegas could definitely be on the table,” said the woman.
