A Michigan man set a record after winning $6 million in the state’s newest instant scratch-off game, and he is still scratching his head in wonder after his good fortune.
In a news release on Friday, Michigan Lottery officials said the 30-year-old man from Cheboygan County won the biggest prize ever offered in the state’s instant game. The man, who chose to remain anonymous, won in the $300,000,000 Diamond Riches game, the Detroit Free Press reported. A $50 ticket returned a huge payoff.
“It’s really unreal to be sitting here collecting $6 million,” the man said in a statement. “I haven’t stopped shaking since I scratched the ticket off.”
A 30-year-old Cheboygan County man has made history after winning $6 million in the Michigan Lottery’s new $300,000,000 Diamond Riches instant win game, the largest prize ever offered on an instant win game in Michigan. https://t.co/pcSgNFqxyL
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The man bought the ticket at Vanderbilt Downtown EZ Mart in Vanderbilt, a town with a population of 498, WWTV reported.
“I heard about the new $50 ticket and told my friend I was going to buy one on payday,” the player told lottery officials. “I didn’t think I would actually win the top prize, but I still wanted to try it.
“We stopped at the store on the way to work so that I could buy one and I scratched it when I got in my car. When I saw I had won the $6 million prize, I started shaking and showed my friend. We were both freaking out.”
The winner decided to receive his prize as a lump-sum payment of about $4.1 million before taxes, WJBK-TV reported.
“Just after he won, he popped over here and he was super thrilled,” Emily Rochester, who runs a fruit stand in Vanderbilt, told WWTV. “Kind of came over and was showing everybody.
“You always hope that it’s someone that could truly use it,” Rochester told the television station, adding that the man was one of her regular customers. “Which he is. He’s one of those that comes in every day headed to work.”
The new millionaire said he plans to take a trip to Disneyland and save the rest of his windfall.
“Winning is unreal and a big blessing. I never thought I would be a millionaire,” he told lottery officials in a statement.
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