Kalispell man claims million dollar lottery prize

A Kalispell man was the owner of the million-dollar lottery ticket recently sold at Mike’s Conoco in Columbia Falls.

Russell Miller claimed the Montana Millionaire grand prize. He said he learned about the winning numbers from a newspaper three days after the drawing took place.

He said he retrieved his tickets from his wallet, checked the numbers, 090907, then called his wife over to double-check.

“I wanted to verify that my eyes weren’t playing tricks on me,” he said.

Miller said he’s an occasional Lottery player who bought two Montana Millionaire tickets this year. He said he got a second ticket after he saw how fast the game was selling.

Once the disbelief subsided, Miller already knew what he wanted to do next.

“I’ve been thinking about winning something more than five or 10 dollars and thought in my mind over and over how I would initially handle it,” he said. “I’m pretty much following my game plan.”

That plan includes sharing his good fortune with those who could use a helping hand.

“We’re going to help some organizations that we’ve given to in the past,” he said. “We won’t be sitting on it.”

Recent past winners in the Columbia Falls area have included Trisha Fauth, of Columbia Falls, $25,000 in October 2013; Ronna Sweeney, of Columbia Falls, $50,000 in December 2012; Carrie Reynolds, of Columbia Falls, $25,000 in July 2012; Joseph Parker, of Coram, $5,000 in May 2012; and Laurence Snyder, of Columbia Falls, $5,000 in July 2011.

Another local lottery winner could be coming forward soon. A winning ticket in the Montana Cash jackpot game for $100,000 was sold at the Super 1 Foods in Kalispell earlier this month. The drawing was held on Jan. 8, and the winning numbers are 1, 11, 12, 25 and 35.

People who purchased winning tickets have up to six months to claim their winnings before the money reverts back to the state.

The Montana Lottery was created by referendum in 1986. Since then, it has paid out more than $465 million in prizes and provided about $210 million to the state of Montana.