Mike Snyder doesn’t know what pushed him to buy 2 lotto tickets on that day in Nov.

But he has a million reasons to be glad he did.

Snyder, 67, stood with his other half Lea, both wearing black sweatshirts with the word “winner” stitched on the front, at the Jefferson Street Holiday Station Tuesday as Minnesota Lottery officers presented them with an enormous check for $1 million.

As pals and family gathered for the display at the Holiday Station Store, Lea Snyder asked one how she was doing. The friend’s answer “not as good as you” generated laughs from the gathering. Mega lottery

This is the fourth year Snyder got a Minnesota Millionaire Raffle game ticket. He typically buys one. But on November. 18, he made a decision to get two and spent $20. The second ticket was the winner.

Friend Larry Kreklau, Wadena, continually meets with Snyder for coffee. Snyder was at Kreklau’s home earlier Tues. morning to fix a fuse. Powerball lottery

“He’s as good a guy as you can hope for,” Kreklau related. “He’s level-headed. … It couldn’t happen to 2 better people.”

Lea and Mike Snyder said they weren’t sure they realized their good fortune yet and never imagined this would occur. Mike Snyder played the Millionaire Raffle, the sole game he does play, because he claimed it offered the best percentages, but was hoping for a win of $5,000 or maybe $25,000.

“We are excited but you don’t think this will ever happen,” Lea Snyder claimed.

Mike Snyder said he was asleep too early to see the numbers drawn for the raffle on New Year’s Day. But up early the following day, he saw the winning numbers displayed on the T. V. . They seemed to be familiar and he was fairly certain he had a winner. He put his DVR on pause. He checked the numbers against the ticket. He went to wake his better half.

“He got me out of bed at Six a.m. In morning to show me the numbers,” Lea Snyder said. “It’s a very humiliating feeling.”

Mike Snyder said he told his other half ‘you need to wake me up or tell me I’m reading this wrong.’”

He wasn’t.

The win came just days before his birthday. The Snyders declared this windfall will assist in making their retirement easier and safe fiscally.

“We’re not going to go out and blow it,” Mike Snyder asserted. “We might buy one toy.”

That toy may come with 8 wheels and the cash will help fund those annual journeys to see the Twins in spring coaching, courtesy of Sun Country.

Jenny Canfield, Minnesota State Lotto acting executive director, declared the Snyders were significantly calm when they revealed the prize at the lottery office.

“If you need someone to keep a secret tell Mike and Lea Snyder,” Canfield related.

Self-described as quiet and conservative folks, Lea Snyder stated that they are still getting over the shock of the win.

After they confirmed the numbers, the ticket sat on Mike Snyder’s desk and they kept the secret till Jan. Six when they went to Rosemount to substantiate the ticket at the lotto office.

“You need to talk, yet you still don’t believe it,” Lea Snyder recounted.

“I didn’t believe it till they put the money in my bank account,” Mike Snyder joked.

When they actually did tell friends and family of their good luck, they found people had a tricky time believing them. The couple has three children, a child and two girls, and seven grandkids. They stopped to see son Mike on their way back from saying the prize.

Mike declared his father and stepmother kept the secret all through dinner and then when they said they’d won a $1 million, he believed they were joking. Even when they showed him a slightly indistinct photograph taken at the lotto office, he announced : “where did you get that made?”

Then Mike and his better half Karen realized it wasn’t a spoof but was true.

“They are just kind people,” Mike declared of his dad and stepmother.

They did not expect the win to modify anything about the folks. Karen said it’s the first time she’s known anyone who actually won the lottery.

Lea and Mike Snyder are originally from Iowa. He’s from Spencer. She’s from Riceville. She teaches piano and works at Tri-County Medical care birth unit. She claimed she likes her work and plans to continue to work a few more years. Mike Snyder worked for Sears and later owned his own business Mike’s Appliance Repair before retiring about a year-and-a-half gone. He said 1st plans are to donate to the tornado recovery fund and their church and then feel more secure in their retirement.

The Holiday Station received a $5,000 bonus for selling the winning ticket with Steve Schmitz, CEO, accepting the big check on the store’s behalf.

The other $1 million prize from the Jan. 1 drawing was sold in Steele County and hasn’t yet been claimed. The Minnesota Millionaire Raffle players have till Jan. Two, 2013, to claim the prizes. And Canfield said there are still three $100,000 Raffle prizes unclaimed with two purchased in Hennepin County and one in Mille Lacs County.

Since 1990, the lotto raised more than $2 billion for state programs with the general fund receiving more than $1.2 bill to fund areas such as education, public health and safety and human services. More than $800 million has gone to back vital environmental programs, the state reported.

Kreklau got a Millionaire Raffle ticket while he was at the Vacation Station store. He said : “I was hoping the luck would rub off.”