Three zeroes make a big difference
By Kate Northrop
PONTIAC, Mich. — A lucky lottery winner was confounded to learn that the ticket he was holding in his hands was not worth a $1,000 prize as he had originally thought, rather it was worth much more.
A Michigan man mistook a $1 million top prize-winning lottery ticket for a $1,000 winner, but he was in for quite a revelation.
The Detroit resident bought said scratch-off ticket at Corner Liquor Shoppe on West Kennett Road in Pontiac, but this purchase was not like every other usual time he's played the lottery.
"I play instant games all the time," the anonymous winner told the Michigan Lottery. "I scratched my 'Triple Million' ticket and thought I'd won $1,000."
The $10 "Triple Million" instant game offers a $10,000 second-tier and $2,000 third-tier prize, but does not feature any prizes of $1,000. Unsure of the amount he'd won, he ventured out again to see what the ticket was really worth.
"I took the ticket back to the store I'd bought it at and had them check it," the 25-year-old recounted. "When the cashier told me it was a $1 million winner, I just stared in shock at my friend who was with me. I don't have the words to describe the feeling that came over me!"
The winner would be leaving Lottery headquarters with metaphorically much heavier pockets than he had anticipated. After claiming the $1 million top prize as a lump sum payout of about $693,000 before taxes in Lansing, he says he'll put the winnings toward a new home.
Only one more top prize of $1 million is left to claim in the "Triple Million" scratch-off out of the three originally available at the start of the game. There are also three out of ten second-tier prizes of $10,000 and 21 out of 63 third-tier prizes of $2,000 remaining.
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He took the ticket back to the store where he bought it and had them check it. Perfect opportunity for the clerk to say yup congratulations you won $1000.00 dollars, would you like to cash it now?? Wow this guy was double lucky!
How could he be confused? The ticket clearly states "1MIL"
If it was $1,000 wouldn't it say "1THO"?
Doesn't Michigan have self-service scanners?
Sometimes I think these winners pretend to be 'clueless' on purpose to be on Lotterypost.
The ticket clearly states "1MIL". Duh!!
Mil does mean thousand in many instances. One mil is one thousandth of an inch. Mil is the Spanish word for thousand. Mille in French. All derived from the Latin word mille, meaning thousand. I can understand why there might be confusion.
Great points!
Maybe he thought the 1MIL was some type of Roman numerals. Otherwise I'm not sure how he could be so confused that he would go back to the store. Apparently the friend with him was just as confused as he was......lol.
Did he buy the ticket in Spain? Did he buy the ticket in France? No. He bought it in the good old U.S.A.!!!! As a previous poster said, good thing the lottery clerk didn't hand him a thousand bucks and cashed the 1MIL himself/herself.
In the end, it all worked out. Hope the winner is wise in spending the winnings. Congrats!