Jacksonville man walks away with $3 million lottery prize

JACKSONVILLE, Ore. – A Jacksonville man was just one number shy of winning a Mega Millions jackpot, but he still ended up a millionaire.

The Oregon Lottery said last week, Martin Oliverson of Jacksonville matched five numbers but missed the Megaball number with his quick pick lottery ticket. He also added a $1 “Megaplier” option. With the help of the Megaplier, Oliverson’s $1 million win was tripled to a total of $3 million.

When Oliverson claimed his prize, he was happy to discover since his winning ticket wasn’t the jackpot, he’d get to keep all $3 million with no taxes. “I thought we had the choice of taking the annuity or the lump sum payment,” Oliverson said. “I was going to take the lump sum, and figured they would take half of the prize, then take taxes out. My wife had to sit down when we learned that since this isn’t the top prize, we get the entire $3 million. We won double what we thought!”

The Oliverson’s win ties for the largest Mega Millions winner in Oregon history.

The lottery said Oliverson bought his ticket from the Jacksonville Chevron station on North 4^th Street. They’ll receive a bonus for selling the ticket: $30,000.

Oliverson is just the latest to join a list of winners who bought their tickets in Jacksonville, which local lottery officials call “Jackpot-ville.”