Mike Snyder still doesn’t know why he felt compelled to buy two lottery tickets back in November but, now he has a million reasons to be glad he did. Lottery numbers

Yesterday, Snyder who is 67 years old, stood with his wife Lea at the Jefferson Street Holiday Station Tuesday as Minnesota Lottery officials presented them with a large check for $1 million.

This is the fourth year Snyder purchased a Minnesota Millionaire Raffle game ticket but, he typically buys one. This year he was glad he decided to get two because the second ticket was the winner. Lottery winning numbers

Lea and Mike Snyder said they weren’t sure they realized their good fortune yet and never imagined this would happen.

This is the only game that Mike Snyder plays because he said, it offered the best odds, but hoped for a win of $5,000 or maybe $25,000.

Mike Snyder said he was asleep too early to see the numbers drawn for the raffle on New Year’s Day. But up early the next day, he saw the winning numbers displayed on the TV and as they looked familiar, he put his DVR on pause to check the numbers against the ticket. After that, he went to wake his wife.

He said he told Lea ‘you need to wake me up or tell me I’m reading this wrong.’” Turns out, he wasn’t.

The win came just days before his birthday and he is very glad it did, since this windfall will help make their retirement easier and financially secure.

Self-described as quiet and conservative people, Lea Snyder said they are still getting over the shock of the win.

After they confirmed the numbers, the ticket sat on Mike Snyder’s desk and they kept the secret until Jan. 6 when they went to Rosemount to authenticate the ticket at the lottery office.

“I didn’t believe it until they put the money in my bank account,” Mike Snyder joked.

Lea and Mike Snyder are originally from Iowa. He’s from Spencer and she’s from Riceville. She teaches piano and works at Tri-County Health Care birth unit, she loves her work and plans to continue to work a few more years. Mike Snyder worked for Sears and later owned his own business Mike’s Appliance Repair, before retiring about a year-and-a-half ago. His initial plans include to donate some of their money to the tornado recovery fund, to their church and then feel more secure in their retirement.

The Holiday Station, where Mike bought his ticket, received a $5,000 bonus for selling the winning ticket with Steve Schmitz, general manager, accepting the oversized check on the store’s behalf.

As state reports since 1990, the lottery has raised more than $2 billion for state programs with the general fund receiving more than $1.2 billion to fund areas such as education, public safety and health and human services. More than $800 million has gone to fund critical environmental programs. So, keep playing the state lottery!