A Michigan man was given the wrong instant lottery ticket that turned out to be a big winner that he kept safe by burying in the backyard.
The 45-year-old player from Van Buren County recently won $1 million on the Michigan Lottery’s Major Cashword game, according to the Michigan Lottery.
The player, who chose to remain anonymous, went to a Speedway gas station located at 855 S. Kalamazoo St. in Paw Paw and asked for a different game, but was handed the Major Cashword ticket.
“I play Cashword tickets occasionally, but purchasing this ticket was a total fluke,” the man told the Michigan Lottery. “I asked the cashier for a different game, and she mistakenly handed me this Major Cashword ticket instead. 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.”
He scratched the ticket the next morning and his wife scanned it on her Michigan Lottery app.
“When $1 million came up on the screen, I felt like I couldn’t breathe!” he said. “I thought it was some sort of prank at first.”
When he realized it was real, he said he put the ticket in a jar and buried it in the yard.
More: Where the biggest Michigan Lottery prizes in March were sold
“… I was so paranoid something would happen to it if I kept it in the house!” he said.
The man recently claimed his prize and opted to receive it as a one-time lump sum payment of about $634,000 instead of annuity payments for the full amount. With the money, he plans to pay bills, pay off his house and save for retirement.
Major Cashword tickets cost $20. The game started with three top prizes of $1 million. All the $1 million prizes have been claimed.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan man puts winning lottery ticket worth $1 million in jar, buries it in yard
Reporting by Tanya Wildt, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
