Amber DeSaer said she knew the ticket for the Jan. 1 drawing was a winner because she had purchased one for herself at Casey's General Store in New Ulm and it was only two numbers away.
"His ticket was only two numbers away from mine and when I saw that one of the $1 million winning tickets was purchased at Casey's, I knew he had it!" she said.
Don DeSaer said he tried to give the ticket back to Amber, but she refused.
"The cat was out of the bag at that point," he said. "I wasn't going to keep it myself, but she refused to take it back."
DeSaer said he was inspired by Amber's generous gesture and decided to split the money equally among his wife and his four adult daughters.
The family visited Lottery headquarters together Friday to collect their prize, which after withholdings came out to $166,666 each.
"The best part is being able to share it with the kids," said DeSaer's wife, Phyllis.
