Woman Ecstatic After Thinking She Won $500 on Lotto. Turns Out It Was $1,000,000
So many lottery stories get tarnished by jealous accusations, legal battles, and (occasionally) outright crimes that it’s refreshing to read about one with a cheerful twist.
That’s exactly what happened with an anonymous woman from St. Clair County, Michigan.
This month, the 60-year-old lotto player had purchased a Super Bonus Cashword scratch-off ticket. The game was styled as a crossword puzzle.
For every word a person successfully scratches off, the sum won rises. Initially, the woman scratched off seven words, an impressive number that would’ve won her $500.
But when she took it back to the gas station where she’d bought it, she learned from the cashier that he couldn’t yet redeem it. That prompted the woman to intensely scrutinize the ticket.
She noticed a couple more words she’d overlooked the first time, which brought the grand total to $5,000. Then she waited a day and examined it again.
This time she saw one more word and that discovery took her to a total of 10 — and a $1 million jackpot. At first, she couldn’t believe her good fortune,
“I thought: ‘This can’t be real!’” she explained to the Michigan Lottery. “So I called the Lottery, and when the woman on the phone confirmed I’d won $1 million, I started shaking so much I dropped the phone.”
Lottery winners can choose to take their funds in predetermined, annuity-like amounts or in a single lump sum. This woman opted for the latter and pocketed a cool $634,000.
The Detroit Free Press reported that she plans to use the funds to pay down debts, build up a rainy-day fund, and travel.
And she isn’t the only Michigan resident to have nearly missed a big lotto payday.
In April, an unnamed Macomb County couple purchased a humble $20 ticket. The wife scratched off the ticket, concluded it was worthless, and started to toss it in the trash.
However, her husband double checked it and discovered it was a winner. They had just drawn down a cool $2 million.
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