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ROSEVILLE, Minn. (AP) — It's a good thing Joe Meath got the Hot Lotto ticket out of his truck. It proved to be a multimillion-dollar jackpot winner.
Meath and his wife, Rhonda Meath, of Bethel, claimed an $11.7 million Hot Lotto jackpot Monday.
Joe Meath bought a 10-line Hot Lotto ticket at Corner Express in East Bethel on Saturday. He put the ticket in the visor of his truck and didn't think about it again until he checked the winning numbers that night.
He noticed the Hot Ball was 19, which he recognized as one of the numbers on his ticket. On that same line, Meath knew that he had the winning numbers 1-2-3. Thinking he had won "maybe $1,000," he decided to get the ticket out of his truck.
"My daughter was using the truck the next day," he said. He retrieved the ticket and saw it also matched the final two winning numbers.
Rhonda Meath told the Star Tribune (http://strib.mn/1xyUAPG ) they are just ordinary people. Joe Meath has been retired from Xcel Energy for three years and she waits tables at the Lake Elmo Inn.
Rhonda Meath said she plans to get a new vehicle. Joe Meath said he is happy with his truck, which has about 280,000 miles, and plans to keep it. The couple plans to give a donation to the St. Paul Police K-9 Foundation, for which Rhonda is a volunteer.
Players choose five numbers from 1 to 47 and one Hot Lotto number from 1 to 19. Saturday night's numbers were 1-2-3-25-30 and the Hot Ball of 19.
It's the 11th Hot Lotto jackpot won in Minnesota and the largest. The game is played in 15 states and the District of Columbia.
The lottery pays the required federal and state withholding taxes on the prize for this game — totaling more than 32 percent.
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Information from: Star Tribune, http://www.startribune.com
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