If we could all turn around a bad day the way that this lady did, ticket sales would skyrocket for the Michigan Lottery. A Cass County woman turned her day around when she won $300,000 playing the Michigan Lottery’s 25th Anniversary Wild Time instant game.
The woman, who has elected to remain anonymous, says, “I was having a bad day but decided to make my usual stop at the Marathon for scratch off tickets anyway.” She tells us, “I bought a couple of Wild Time tickets and my nephews bought a couple of Bingo games.”
As they head home, she says, “We all scratched the tickets when we got back to my house. After I scratched the Wild Time ticket, I tossed it on the table. My nephew glanced over the ticket and looked at me and said: ‘Are you going to split that with me?'”
It didn’t fully register immediately just how much she had actually won. She says, “I thought I must have won a couple hundred bucks, so I picked the ticket up to look over it and as soon as I saw the $300,000 prize, I said: ‘This can’t be real!’ I called my mother-in-law and asked her to come get the ticket and put it in her safe.”
The 53-year-old player bought the winning 25th Anniversary Wild Time ticket at the Edwardsburg Marathon, located at 26404 Highway 12 in Edwardsburg.
The anonymous player says, “To be honest, winning has been a little overwhelming.” She adds, “I keep trying to wrap my mind around what I am going to do with the money. I know I want to put it to good use. For now, I am going to set up college funds for my grandkids, and then put the rest in savings.”
Players have won more than $38 million playing 25th Anniversary Wild Time, which launched in December 2017. Each $5 ticket offers players a chance to win prizes ranging from $5 up to $300,000. More than $20 million in prizes remain, including two $300,000 top prizes, eight $25,000 prizes, and 20 $2,500 prizes.
Lottery instant games can be purchased at 11,000 retailers across the state. In fact, in 2017, Lottery players won more than $960 million playing instant games.
About 97 cents of every dollar spent on Lottery tickets is returned to the state in the form of contributions to the state School Aid Fund, prizes to players and commissions to vendors and retailers. In the 2017 fiscal year, the Lottery’s contribution to Michigan’s public schools was a record $924.1M. Since it began in 1972, the Lottery has contributed more than $21B to support public education in Michigan. For additional information, follow the Michigan Lottery on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and online at www.michiganlottery.com.
