Man who bought Mega Millions ticket still wins big

This man didn't win the top Mega Millions prize, but he still won big.

According to the Virginia Lottery, Malcolm Meredith, of Manassas, Virginia, bought a lottery ticket for the May 20 Mega Millions drawing.

Soon after the drawing, he showed his ticket to a person who told him it wasn't a winner, according to an Aug. 4 press release.

FOX Business reached out to the Virginia Lottery for comment.

The agency revealed on its website that Meredith's ticket had matched the first five numbers of the Mega Millions drawing, but not the Mega Ball number.

Meredith held onto the ticket and weeks later he got a second opinion and found out he won.

Meredith took the ticket to the state lottery's Northern Virginia Customer Service Center in Woodbridge, Virginia, where he learned he won $1 million, the release said.

"I was hoping and praying," Meredith told the Virginia Lottery.

The Virginia Lottery reported that Meredith used the Easy Pick option, which meant that the computer randomly selected his numbers.

The winning numbers for the $131 million jackpot at the time were 33 -- 40 59 -- 60 -- 69, with 22 as the Mega Ball number.

The odds of matching the first five numbers of the Mega Millions are one in 12,607, 306 according to the Virginia Lottery.

Meredith was the only person in the U.S. to match the first five numbers, the agency said.

He bought his ticket at a Harris Teeter grocery store in Manassas. The press release said that the grocery store will get $10,000 for selling Meredith's ticket.