No better sign to buy a lottery ticket than a big win from a fictional doppelganger
By Kate Northrop
FLINT, Mich. — A Michigan man won $500,000 in the lottery after identifying with an actor look-alike, whose character bought a lottery ticket in a movie.
Most lottery winners have a fun story to accompany their prize claim, and one Michigan man's reason for buying a ticket is as unique as they come.
This 26-year-old winner, who chose to remain anonymous, said that he was inspired by a fictional character who bought a lottery ticket in a movie. This character was being portrayed by an actor who happened to look just like him, and so what better sign to play the lottery in real life?
"I was watching a movie, and the main character won big on a lottery ticket," the Genesee County man told the Michigan Lottery. "The main character was my look-alike, so I took it as a sign to go buy a ticket."
He visited the E-Z Stop Food Mart on North Saginaw Street in Flint, where he picked out a $5 "Lucky No. 13 scratch-off ticket, which offers a top prize of $500,000.
"Later that day, I was with some friends and scratched the ticket," the player continued. "When I saw I'd won $500,000, I couldn't believe my eyes! I wanted to make sure what I was seeing was real before sharing the news with my friends, so I went into the bathroom to look the ticket over again. Once I confirmed what I was seeing, I called my girlfriend to tell her the good news. I feel so blessed to win this amount of money!"
He visited Lottery headquarters in Lansing to claim his winnings, which he'll use to take care of his children and go on vacation.
There is currently one $500,000 top prize left to claim out of the three originally available in the $5 "Lucky No. 13" scratch-off game, which launched in April 2023. Two out of ten second-tier prizes of $2,000 and 108 out of 460 third-tier prizes of $500 are also still available.
The overall odds of winning any prize in the game are 1 in 4.02.
According to the Lottery, players have won more than $23 million playing "Lucky No. 13" alone, and there are over $8 million in total prizes remain. Michigan lottery players won more than $1.7 billion playing scratch-off games in 2023.
(Click to display full-size in gallery)
As good a reason as any, I suppose
Worked out well for him...Congrats
Never said if the look-alike won on their ticket though
congrats to the young man & glad he was smart enough to remain anonymous
I'm curious as to read which movie included his doppelganger
list of lottery related movies
he must look like kristen wiig.
Glad he didn't look like Ned Stark, congrats to the lucky guy.
I am going to say Nicholas Cage his character bought a New York Lotto ticket but also it could be John Travolta I think his was a Michigan Lotto but then again it might be Jason Lee "My Name Is Earl" was based off him buying a scratch off ticket and he has been in some movies too, those just jumped out at me and don't forget about Luke Combs "When It Rains It Pours" Video. But I am sure someone else could come up with a few more.
He did.
I believe the movie was entitled, "Lottery Ticket".
I believe the actor in question is called "Bow Wow".
I have no idea what his real name is.
Anyway, congratulations to the winner!
I wish you success and continued good luck!
GMTA LOL
'cause thats the movie I was thinking about LOL
Bow Wow was in his 20's when he made the movie entitled, "Lottery Ticket".
According to the news story, the winner is 26.
Shad Gregory Moss better known as Bow Wow (formerly Lil' Bow Wow ) is an American rapper and actor
Thank you. I'm not into hiphop, modern sitcoms (other than "Married With Children" and a few others), and i'll never watch a Tyler Perry movie, but I think i'm familiar with that area of Flint, Michigan where the winning ticket was bought. If my memory serves me correctly, that used to be an area of drug dealers and prostitution. It's been many years since I rode down North Saginaw.
Oh, and I don't recommend the movie, "Lottery Ticket" to anybody.
Outside of his ticket winning, I don't remember anything else.
"I was watching a movie, and the main character won big on a lottery ticket,"
to each his/her/it's own I reckon
of course, I still laugh at most of the old shows that include: Sanford & son and some of other great classics from back in the day
I thank God every day for the few and many nostalgic TV channels like METV and the others
I LOVE Sanford and Son. A female friend of mine once acted on that show. I also see some old friends occasionally on The Wayans Brothers. I doubt that I would watch it if old acquaintances weren't occasionally on that show.
I like a lot of the old school shows too. On PlutoTV, they have channels that basically stream one show around the clock so I can literally catch an episode of a show anytime I want. There are also a lot of on demand streaming services that have some old school stuff for free. They don't make TV like they used to.
MeTV and AntennaTV aren't bad, Cozy has some good stuff too.
Back on topic, I think it would be cool if he looks like Bryan Cranston. He was great in Jerry and Marge Go Large. I also saw him Malcolm in the Middle, but haven't seen Breaking Bad.
I'm happy for the winner and hope he does well with his new found money.
That is interesting. I once had a coworker who told me her neighbors were related to LaWanda Page(Aunt Esther). I don't know if it is true, but it was interesting to say the least.
My friend who acted on Sanford and Son was much younger than Aunt Esther. She also acted in a couple of movies.
She was one of the prettiest women in Hollywood.
SNAP I just remembered Mike Epps in 'All About The Benjamins", Could be Byran Cranston in Jerry & Marge "GO LARGE" so many different actors or actress's. This is fun just trying to remember all the movies about the Lottery but let's hope he doesn't look like Eddie Tipton that would eerie for him.
That's my favorite scratch off! I was hoping that I could win the jackpot from it
As far as I know, Michigan is the only state that redacts the ticket number. It's not like someone will be able to copy it and forge a winner.
LOL!
I definitely believe in lucky hunches, I won two pick 3s today due to hunches not workouts. Congrats to him!
I wish scratchers would post overall odds for the JACKPOT instead of all the prizes.
Example: The overall odds of winning any prize in the game are 1 in 4.02.