"I went online and bought a ticket using numbers that are family birthdays," Mazahem said. "I forgot to save the numbers as favorites in the app, so I went back in and set them up as favorites so I could easily play them in the future."
He said repeating the process had an unforeseen side effect.
"What I didn't realize, is that meant I would be buying a second ticket with the same numbers. Once I figured out I had bought two tickets with identical numbers, I was a little bummed but didn't think much about it," he said.
The mistake proved fortunate, however, when he matched the five white balls drawn, 01-05-09-10-23, earning each ticket a $1 million prize.
"I recently logged into the app to check on some tickets I had bought, and that is when I saw I had two $1 million prizes pending. Saying that I was stunned is an understatement. I couldn't believe it was real. It took several days for the reality to set in that my mistake had paid off to the tune of $2 million," he said.
The winner said he plans to buy a new home with his winnings and put the rest into savings.
"Winning is exciting and gives me some comfort knowing that when I retire, I will have money in the bank," Mazahem said.
