Salem Woman Wins $40,000 Playing Mega Millions®

Charleston, W.Va. – West Virginia Lottery Director John Musgrave announced today that Kathie Titus of Salem has claimed a $40,000 prize from the February 26 Mega Millions® drawing.

“I had already gotten home when I realized I did not buy any tickets, so I actually went back out and ended up buying four plays with the Megaplier®,” Titus said. “The strange thing is I usually never play the Megaplier® option. I definitely will continue to do so now!”

Titus, who works as the Executive Director of the Greater Clarksburg Convention and Visitors Bureau, matched four numbers plus the Mega ball and took advantage of the Megaplier option that led to her prize being quadrupled from $10,000 to $40,000.

She bought the lucky ticket at the 7-11 store on Main Street in Salem, W.Va. She manually picked the Mega ball number of seven, however she allowed the computer to auto pick all of the white balls.

“I checked my ticket on the computer the next morning and I could not believe that I came one number away from winning $13 million,” Titus said. “I was not even sure what the prize was for matching four plus the Mega ball, but I was really happy to find out that it was worth $40,000!”

Titus says she plans to use some of her winnings to pay bills, put some of it into savings, and take a nice vacation.