Kalispell man claims $1 million prize

HELENA — Russell Miller of Kalispell is Montana’s newest millionaire after claiming the $1 million Montana Millionaire grand prize with a ticket he purchased from Mike’s of Columbia Falls, 1645 9th St. W.

 Russell is an occasional lottery player who bought two Montana Millionaire tickets this year. The first one would end up being the lucky one, but he picked up the second after he saw how fast the game was selling because he didn’t want to miss his chance to double up.

Russell learned he won by reading the newspaper three days after the drawing. He retrieved his tickets from his wallet and checked the numbers. Then he called his wife over to double-check.

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

Sure enough, Russell was a millionaire. Once the disbelief subsided, he already knew what 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.”

According to Russell, 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.”