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A man in Michigan is $1-million richer thanks to a very lucky lottery mistake.
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The lottery player from Van Buren County says he was trying to purchase a ticket for a “different game” but was handed another ticket by the employee at a Speedway in Paw Paw.
“I play (Major) Cashword tickets occasionally, but purchasing this ticket was a total fluke,” the lucky winner, who wished to remain anonymous, told Michigan Lottery when picking up his winnings.
“I asked the cashier for a different game, and she mistakenly handed me this Major Cashword ticket instead,” the 45-year-old explained.
“When she realized she gave me the wrong ticket, she offered to give me the game I’d asked for, but I told her I would just keep the Major Cashword ticket instead.”
The man didn’t play the scratcher until the following day, but when he scratched the barcode, his wife scanned it on her lottery app to reveal he was a big winner.
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“When $1 million came up on the screen, I felt like I couldn’t breathe,” he recounted.
“I thought it was some sort of prank at first,” the man said with a laugh, but once he realized it was real, he went to great lengths to ensure nothing happened to the valuable ticket.
“I put the ticket in a jar and buried it in the yard because I was so paranoid something would happen to it if I kept it in the house!”
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The man’s reaction wasn’t new, according to lottery commissioner Suzanna Shkreli, who noted that “lottery players find interesting ways to keep their tickets safe after scoring a big win.”
She did admit that burying the ticket in a Mason jar was unique, comparing it to a “$1-million buried treasure.”
The man chose to receive a one-time lump sum of $634,000 rather than incremental payments for the full amount.
He told lottery officials that he intends to pay off his home and bills and set aside some funds for retirement.
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