LANSING, Mich. – A broken leg and a mix-up while buying lottery tickets lead to a $4 million winning for a couple from Ogemaw County, Michigan.
A 71-year-old Ogemaw County man said he began buying Max Money lottery tickets for his wife when she broke her leg.
Recommended Videos
"My wife broke her leg a couple months ago and she has trouble getting out of the house," he said. "Each week, I’ve been buying her four or five $20 tickets to help lift her spirits."
But during his most recent trip to by lottery tickets, there was an extremely fortunate mix-up.
"I stopped at the Murphy USA gas station in West Branch and told the clerk to give me five tickets from bin number 28," he said. "Well, last week bin 28 was a $20 game, and this week it was the Max Money game. I decided I'd buy the tickets and give them a try."
When he returned home and gave the tickets to his wife, she was shocked to win the $4 million prize.
"She was screaming that she’d won $4 million and I just thought she was playing a trick on me," he said. "I told her she needed to call the lottery to be sure she'd won."
After confirming that she had won, the woman asked her husband to sign her ticket and go to Lansing to claim the big prize. He visited lottery headquarters Thursday and chose to receive the money as a one-time lump sum payment of about $2.5 million, rather than an annuity.
With their winnings, the couple said they plan to invest and possibly take a trip.
The couple chose to remain anonymous.
"As I walked out the door, my wife said, 'Honey, this means you can retire,'" the man said. "I'm not sure if I want to retire, but it is nice to know we'll never have to worry about any of our finances ever again."