Michigan Lottery: Boss's kind gesture wins him and co-worker $1 millionThe way the story's told at Slim's Stop & Go, Sara Vosters was having a "really bad day" a few weeks ago.
So her boss, James Royser, bought her an instant lottery ticket at the store on M-89 in Richland and let her scratch it to expose the numbers. It became a daily routine every morning when he went to Slim's to buy newspapers.
Now that gesture is worth a million dollars.
Vosters and Royser are splitting $1 million as winners of the top prize in the Michigan Lottery's "Million Dollar Mania" Instant Game, Lottery officials announced Tuesday.
When Vosters scratched the ticket two weeks ago, she first thought it said a thousand dollars. Then she realized the true amount, according to Renae Young, the Slim's store manager who sold the ticket to Royser. Young and lottery officials said Royser and Vosters made a copy of the ticket and put the real one in a safe.
"(Royser) came in the next day and brought a copy of the ticket," Young said. "He showed me the copy and said, 'This is what you sold me.'
"I was thinking at first it was maybe $100," she said. "That's a lot to me."
Young said Royser told her Vosters has quit her job to go back to school. He told her he does not plan to quit.
"He likes his job," which is in an area nursing home, she said.
Royser still comes in most mornings and buys an instant lottery ticket, Young said.
And as the good news spreads, the store's business in lottery tickets has gone up at least 75 tickets from about 10 each morning, she said.
Lottery officials said that since the lottery was created in 1972, it has pulled in more than $11 billion for the School Aid Fund, which supports K-12 public education in Michigan.
Vosters, of Kalamazoo, and Royser of Richland, plan to use their winnings to buy cars, pay bills and invest, according to a Michigan Lottery news release.
