A Michigan woman said she “had an urge” to buy a lottery ticket while out running errands and ended up winning a prize worth $100,000 a year for life, which she opted to take as a $2.2 million lump sum, state lottery officials said Tuesday.
The 66-year-old Charlevoix County woman — who asked not to be identified by name per lottery policy — told the Michigan Lottery that the May 21 drawing was not her first attempt at the Millionaire for Life game, which launched earlier this year.
“I’ve been playing Millionaire For Life on and off since the game started earlier this year,” the player said in a statement released by the lottery. “I had an urge to buy a ticket while I was out and about one day, so I went to the closest store and bought one.”
She stopped at the Mancelona North EZ Mart on U.S. Highway 131 Northeast in Mancelona and bought a ticket bearing the numbers 03-15-16-24-28.
The next day, she said, she scanned the ticket at another store and a message directed her to contact the lottery office.
“I thought the scanner was broken, so I went out to my car to check the numbers on MichiganLottery.com,” the winner said. “I saw a winning ticket was purchased in Mancelona and then I saw I’d matched all five numbers. I yelled: ‘I just won $2.2 million!’ and did a happy dance in my car.”
The drawing’s top prize is $100,000 a year for life, and the woman chose to take her winnings as a one-time, lump-sum payment of $2.2 million.
She said she plans to use her prize money to buy a new house, a car and a boat.
The win follows a string of notable lottery payouts in Michigan this year. MSI previously reported on a Michigan man who won $2 million collecting his winnings from a road trip ritual on June 5.