Man hits the jackpot on a forgotten $1 lotto ticket in Michigan: ‘Doesn’t seem real’
A Michigan man spent $1 on a lottery ticket and received much more in return — once he remembered he’d bought the ticket, that is.
The 56-year-old won $430,194 on a Fantasy 5 jackpot on Jan. 23 after buying the online ticket along with a few in-store tickets, he told Michigan Lottery officials.
The Ingham County resident, who wanted to remain anonymous, checked the results of his in-store tickets and thought he’d come up short with his lottery purchases.
“I checked my in-store tickets ... and thought I didn’t win anything this drawing, forgetting about my online tickets,” he said in a Feb. 2 news release.
But while scrolling through his emails the next morning, he noticed a strange email notification from the Michigan Lottery.
“After reading the email, I knew it had to be a big prize. I logged in to my Lottery account to verify the prize and was stunned when I saw the amount pending,” he told lottery officials. “I woke my wife up right away to tell her what we’d won!”
He said his unexpected win still “doesn’t seem real.”
“I don’t think it will hit me until I see the money in my bank account,” he said.
The player plans to share his winnings with his family, do some home renovations and make donations.
Lansing is largely located within Ingham County.
This story was originally published February 3, 2022 at 1:29 PM with the headline "Man hits the jackpot on a forgotten $1 lotto ticket in Michigan: ‘Doesn’t seem real’."
