Columbia woman wins $3 million lottery prize

A Columbia woman won $3 million from the Missouri Lottery.

Lottery officials presented Antoinett Ivicsics with a check at the Petro Mart on N. Rangeline Street Wednesday afternoon.

Ivicsics, a cook at the University of Missouri’s Women and Children’s Hospital, won the second of only two $3 million top prizes in the “$3,000,000 Taxes Paid” Scratchers game.

“I looked down, and I thought it was $3,000,” Ivicsics said. “Then I scratched the other zeros. I said, ‘No way! There was only one (top prize) left. How did I get it?'”

She plans to pay off her home mortgage, bills, and help family. However, she says she is not planning on retiring anytime soon.

“I don’t think it’s going to change my daily life when it comes to work, but it’s going to feel good getting out of bed knowing that I don’t have to go to work one more day wondering how I’m going to pay everything,” she said.