Homeless man dives into dumpster to retrieve lottery ticket worth $4.82M

Nov 19, 2018, 8:29 am (54 comments)

Michigan Lottery

By Todd Northrop

A homeless Michigan man who realized he won the state's Lotto 47 game dived into a dumpster to retrieve the winning ticket.

The man, who chose to remain anonymous, was one of two people who split the $9.64 million jackpot with the winning $1 ticket he bought for the Oct. 10 drawing. He bought the winning ticket, worth $4.82 million, at the B&D Mini Mart at 32 West Munger Road in Munger.

"I have been playing the same numbers on Lotto 47 for more than two years," the man said. "I always use the same playslip to buy my tickets. In fact... I accidentally threw it away and had to climb in a dumpster to get it back. I am so lucky that I found it."

On Oct. 11, the man was out for a walk when he checked the winning numbers. He said he was stunned when the six numbers matched.

"As soon as I saw they matched, I started shaking and haven't stopped since," he said.

"It's been a rough couple of years for me. An injury caused me to go on disability and I haven't been able to find any work. Winning this prize has turned my life around in an instant. It means I can finally get some medical procedures that I couldn't have afforded before. This will undoubtedly improve my quality of life."

The man went to Lottery headquarters Thursday and decided to take a lump sum of approximately $3 million.

The winning numbers in the Oct. 10 Lotto 47 drawing were 5, 12, 24, 31, 35, and 42.

The second winning ticket from the drawing was bought at The Silver House Liquor, located at 16661 25 Mile Road in Macomb Township. The winning ticket holder, a Macomb County man who chose to remain anonymous, claimed his share of the jackpot on Oct. 12.

Each Lotto 47 play is only $1. Players select six numbers from one to 47 for a chance to win a jackpot starting at $1 million and grows until someone wins it. For an additional $1 per game, players may add EZMatch to their ticket for a chance to win up to $500 instantly.

Michigan residents can buy Lotto 47 tickets online. Other games such as Powerball, Mega Millions, and Fantasy 5 can also be purchased online by Michigan residents.

Lotto 47 drawings take place on Wednesday and Saturday at 7:29 p.m. Tickets may be purchased until 7:08 p.m. on the day of the drawing.

Lottery Post Staff

Comments

Bleudog101

Perfect story to start Thanksgiving week.

So glad this poor, downtrodden soul was Blessed with a huge win.  Just what he needed and then some to turn his life around.

Don' t think/hope not anyway that he somehow ends up broke again.

Feel good story #1 of the week.

TheMeatman2005's avatarTheMeatman2005

Congrats on the win, but always need to treat lottery tickets as you would handle cash.

He said "I have been playing the same numbers on Lotto 47 for more than two years," It just seems that lately a lot of people are winning with numbers they have played for long periods of time.

souljacker37

He also said he was 'out for a walk' and checked the numbers on his phone before realising (this was in the original report I read on Michigan lottery site, where there was no suggestion the winner was homeless). I suspect the truth has been bent in this report.

CDanaT's avatarCDanaT

Congrats on the nice win "Mr. Anonymous" and best of luck on getting your medical issues corrected. The important part is that you found your winning ticket.... I bet a certain portion of your anatomy was having pucker-factor 14 trying to locate that ticket... it's not funny about temporarily throwing the ticket away but I am chuckling at the life lesson of ticket security.

SheGood's avatarSheGood

Wonderful

noise-gate

Quote: Originally posted by SheGood on Nov 19, 2018

Wonderful

Yes it is. Makes one wonder at what point did he realize that he had thrown a winning ticket away? It seems our brains disengage & then somehow corrects itself. Kinda like driving, missing your turnoff, because you mentally distracted & head for the next exit to turn around.

Hope all goes well for this guy!

cbr$'s avatarcbr$
Congratulation to this Michigan man on his win. It definitely will improve his
quality of life. I bet getting medical help & a home is the top two things on his
to do list.  Nice story Todd.
zephbe's avatarzephbe

He didn't throw away his ticket.  He threw away the play slip he used to buy tickets.  Congratulations to him.

noise-gate

Quote: Originally posted by zephbe on Nov 19, 2018

He didn't throw away his ticket.  He threw away the play slip he used to buy tickets.  Congratulations to him.

That may well be Z, but the West Coast edition of L.P. says " He threw away the winning ticket" in the very first paragraph of the article.

zephbe's avatarzephbe

Quote: Originally posted by noise-gate on Nov 19, 2018

That may well be Z, but the West Coast edition of L.P. says " He threw away the winning ticket" in the very first paragraph of the article.

The article does not say that.  Guess facts don't matter.  The headline is wrong.

larry3100's avatarlarry3100

I would like to read about this lucky man in three years and find out if he lost all of his lottery money. I hear most lottery winners lose their money in three years after they win. Being that he wants to remain anonymous, we may never know if he went broke. Congratulations to the winner!

noise-gate

Quote: Originally posted by zephbe on Nov 19, 2018

The article does not say that.  Guess facts don't matter.  The headline is wrong.

Which article are you referring to Z? Do you have another source that says different? I just went to a site called AJC.com, and they said the same thing " retrieved winning ticket from dumpster." 

music*'s avatarmusic*

"This will undoubtedly improve my quality of life."  This is the lottery dream that is shared by millions.

 MM & PB are at decent levels now.

Cool

zephbe's avatarzephbe

Quote: Originally posted by noise-gate on Nov 19, 2018

Which article are you referring to Z? Do you have another source that says different? I just went to a site called AJC.com, and they said the same thing " retrieved winning ticket from dumpster." 

It's in this article--didn't you read the article? 

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