A Michigan man is celebrating a life-changing lottery win after scoring a $6 million jackpot — a moment so shocking that his wife briefly forgot to breathe.
Earlier this month, the Michigan Lottery announced that a Hillsdale County resident, who chose to remain anonymous, claimed the top prize in the Super Raffle game.
“I really liked the odds of the Super Raffle game, so I bought a ticket here and there,” the 69-year-old winner told lottery officials. “I checked my raffle number on MichiganLottery.com the day of the drawing and couldn’t contain myself when I found out I’d won the $6 million top prize.”
After confirming the win, he couldn’t wait to share the news at home.
“I called my wife over to the computer to show her the results, and I think she stopped breathing for a minute when she saw how much we won!” he said.
According to the Michigan Lottery, the Super Raffle features one $6 million grand prize, two $1 million prizes, and 12 prizes worth $100,000 each. The odds of winning the top prize are 1 in 350,000.
The winner chose to receive his prize as a lump sum payment of $4.1 million instead of annual installments, lottery officials confirmed.
As for his plans, he said he intends to share a portion of the winnings with his children and save the rest for the future.
The Nov. 19 drawing brought big wins for more than one Michigan resident. Another player, Gilbert Godinez of Caro, also walked away with a $100,000 prize.
“When the Super Raffle game launched, I told myself I was going to buy one ticket a month until the drawing took place,” Godinez told lottery officials. “About two weeks before the drawing, I was cashing in a small scratch-off win and decided to use it to buy one more Super Raffle ticket.”
He said checking his numbers online led to an unforgettable surprise.
“The day of the drawing, I went on MichiganLottery.com to check my raffle numbers and was stunned to find out that the last ticket I bought was a $100,000 winner,” Godinez said. “I never would have imagined winning a prize like this — it’s pretty unbelievable.”
