A 68-year-old Oakland County man who regularly buys Michigan Lottery Fast Cash tickets told lottery officials he usually hands a cashier money and asks for any Fast Cash game — but lately he had been adding an exception to avoid the Detroit Lions game because he had not been having luck with it.
“I forgot to tell the cashier that this time, and the Detroit Lions game is what he printed for me,” the man said in a statement released by the Michigan Lottery. He said he does not check tickets right away, so he folded the ticket and put it in his pocket.
The next morning, the man said he looked over the ticket and realized he had won the $1.05 million progressive jackpot from the Detroit Lions Rush For Riches Fast Cash game. He said he stopped his wife as she was walking by, handed her the ticket, and said: “You’re not going to believe this!”
“Once she saw what I’d won, she started crying,” the man told lottery officials. “It was an exciting and emotional day for us.”
The man purchased the ticket at the Speedway gas station on Pontiac Trail in South Lyon. He reflected on his luck, saying: “All I’ve been thinking since winning is how glad I am that I forgot to tell the cashier not to give me the Detroit Lions game.”
The winner said he plans to use the prize money to take care of his family.