Lottery winner stares at Michigan ticket for an hour. ‘I had a hard time believing it’

A 41-year-old Michigan woman said she doesn’t usually play instant lottery games, but when she saw a Ghostbusters ticket, she thought, “Why not?”

That impromptu decision while at Special Way Food Store in Pontiac paid off big, according to an Oct. 23 news release from the Michigan Lottery. But the winner couldn’t believe she had won the game’s top prize.

“When I scratched the ticket and saw I’d won $500,000, I read the directions over and over again and looked the ticket over for at least an hour,” she told lottery officials. “I knew what I was seeing, but I had a hard time believing it, so I drove to my local Lottery office to have them check it.”

That’s when the Oakland County woman realized she could believe what she was seeing.

“The Lottery employee scanned the ticket and said: ‘You need to take this one to Lansing!’” she recalled when claiming her big win. “It was such an amazing feeling.”

She plans to use her prize money to help family, pay bills and save, according to the release.

“Winning this prize is the start of a new beginning for me and my family,” she said.

Pontiac is part of the Detroit metropolitan area.

This story was originally published October 23, 2023 at 7:37 AM with the headline "Lottery winner stares at Michigan ticket for an hour. ‘I had a hard time believing it’."