Michigan lottery player hits top prize using spare change

A lucky lottery player in Michigan used spare change to buy a ticket and was pleasantly surprised by a life-changing win.

The fortunate player's eyes nearly "popped out" of his head

Earlier this week, the Michigan Lottery confirmed the identity of the latest Lucky For Life winner, James Daniel, a 69-year-old man from Redford.

The Wayne County man decided to try his luck after purchasing tickets at Jerry’s Party Store located at 28940 Warren Road in Westland.

Speaking to an official from the Michigan Lottery, the 69-year-old man recalled the day he bought the winning Lucky For Life ticket.

"I had some change leftover after buying some groceries, so I decided to buy some Lucky For Life tickets," Daniel said.

Moreover, the fortunate winner said: "I checked my numbers that night, and my eyes about popped out of my head when I got to the third line and say I had matched five numbers!"

Matching correctly the five white balls, 03-15-32-34-37, on the game's drawing from December 13, 2024, granted the Redford man one of the game's top prizes, $25,000 a year for life.

The 69-year-old lottery player recently visited the Michigan Lottery headquarters to claim his big win.

As it is usual for top prizes, he was given the option to either collect a lump cash sum or receive $25,000 a year for life for 20 years or life, whichever is greater.

Similar to most winners of such prizes, Daniel selected the former option and saw his bank account grow by $390,000.

When he was asked about his plans about the unexpected windfall, the Wayne County man said that he will invest the winnings.

Speaking about the time he realized he had just won one of the top prizes from Lucky For Life, Daniel admitted that he initially didn't believe it.

The man said that he asked his son and wife to take a look at his ticket and make sure that he indeed had won.

The popular daily draw game grants a chance for mouth-watering prizes

Lucky For Life is a popular game that is available in Michigan, as well as nearly three dozen other states.

Tickets for the game cost $2.00 per play and can be purchased either at a retail lottery outlet or online.

Drawings of the popular game take place every day at 10:38 PM.

The odds of winning the game's top prize, $1,000 a day for life, are 1 in 30,821,472.

On the other hand, the odds of winning a tier-two prize, $25,000 a year for life, such as the one won by the Wayne County man, are 1 in 1,813,028.

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