$5 lottery purchase yields $16.5 million for Ohio man

<p>An Ohio man drove for three days with the winning $40 million dollar Mega Millions ticket tucked in the armrest of his car before realizing Monday it was worth more than $16 million after taxes.</p><p>Sean Harper of Columbus said he forgot about the ticket until he went to purchase tickets for Ohio's Pick Four drawing on Monday.</p><p>"It had been in my armrest the whole time. I didn't believe it until the clerk showed it to me on the screen," Harper said, adding that he didn't even know the winning ticket was purchased in Ohio until he asked the clerk to check the ticket.</p><p>After discovering he had picked all six numbers correctly, Harper, 35, drove with his father to the Ohio Lottery office in Columbus to turn in the winning ticket.</p><p>On Friday night, Harper stopped at a gas station in the Columbus suburb of Whitehall to buy his regular Pick Four ticket and decided to play $5 on the multistate Mega Millions drawing. He chose the cash option and will receive about $16.5 million after taxes are deducted.</p><p>The money will help care for his four children, Harper said.</p><p>The owners of the gas station also received a check for $40,000 as a bonus for selling the winning ticket, the Ohio Lottery said. The winning ticket was the tenth sold in Ohio since the Mega Millions game began in May 2002.</p>