Northfield Couple Claims $2 Million Lotto Jackpot

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO)  - A Northfield couple claimed a $2 million Minnesota State Lottery jackpot Friday, the second-highest Gopher 5 payout on record.

Richard Moore bought several lotto tickets at Heidelberger's Rock Creek Motor Stop in Pine City on Nov. 12 as he was heading home from the cabin.

A couple days later he remembered the tickets were stashed in the truck's sun visor.

"I took the garbage out and went back in the house," he told the lotto's public relations office. "I thought, 'I should check those tickets,' so I put my slippers on and got them out of the truck."

Together, they examined the tickets and discovered the prize was $2,008,806—just $23,395 shy of the record jackpot, won on Nov. 8, 2005.

The couple drove straight to the Lottery's Roseville headquarters to claim the prize.