Michigan Lottery Player Forgets $1M-Winning Ticket for Two Months
Many lottery operators provide winning players with up to a year to claim their prize. While most people go to receive their winnings right away, sometimes prizes are claimed months later. While this can seem puzzling to many, there is usually a good reason for that. In the case of one Michigan Lot…
Many lottery operators provide winning players with up to a year to claim their prize. While most people go to receive their winnings right away, sometimes prizes are claimed months later. While this can seem puzzling to many, there is usually a good reason for that. In the case of one Michigan Lottery player, the reason was that a ticket worth seven figures had been forgotten in his wallet. The Player Had Forgotten About the Ticket Michael Vander Lugt is a player from Wyoming, Michigan, who had purchased a Powerball ticket and completely forgotten about it. Two months later, the Kent County man realized that he didn’t have enough cash to pay for a drink. When he opened his wallet, he found several tickets that he was certain won at least a small prize and decided to use them to pay. However, the clerk returned one of his tickets, telling him that he must file a claim at the lottery office. When Vander Lugt returned to his car, he immediately checked the drawing in question and was surprised to learn that he had matched all five white numbers for that drawing. For reference, the winning numbers for the drawing that took place on August 8 were 5, 9, 35, 54, and 63, plus the red Powerball 7. Click here for GamblingNews’ report about that drawing. In any case, Vander Lugt narrowly missed the top prize, which stood at $864 million at the time. Despite that, his ticket ended up netting him a $1 million Match 5 prize. Vander Lugt Couldn’t Believe His Luck The Michigan Lottery clarified that the ticket was sold at Big Top Market, 3630 Clyde Park Ave. SW in Wyoming. Officials later interviewed the lucky winner, who said that he could not believe his luck. I recognized the numbers as soon as I saw them and started freaking out! I can’t believe I had this ticket in my wallet for nearly two months not knowing it was worth $1 million. Michael Vander Lugt Vander Lugt added that he plans to use his winnings to pay off his mortgage and invest. In other Michigan Lottery news, the October 19 Powerball drawing awarded another prize of $1 million to a lucky local player.