No small feat!

By Kate Northrop

A Michigan man who was disappointed that he had missed the jackpot by one number was surprised to learn that he had won a $795,905 Fantasy 5 lottery jackpot the next night.

Although he was grateful for the smaller win, one Michigan man was miffed that he had missed winning the jackpot by one number. The next night, that feeling was replaced by shock when he learned he had really accomplished what he had set out to do.

The 53-year-old winner, who chose to remain anonymous, matched four numbers in the July 26 Fantasy 5 drawing to win a $100 prize, but it was just not what he was looking for. Besides, the jackpot was still high enough to consider playing again.

"I always buy Fantasy 5 tickets if the jackpot is over $250,000," the player told the Michigan Lottery. "I usually buy my tickets in-store, but the night of the drawing I realized I'd forgotten to buy some, so I logged onto MichiganLottery.com and bought two."

Following the July 27 Fantasy 5 drawing, he checked his email and found that there was an update regarding his two tickets.

"After the drawing, I saw an email from the Lottery that said I had won $1 in the drawing," the Macomb County resident continued. "I thought that was all I'd won, until another email came through telling me to log into my account to claim my prize. When I logged in and saw $795,905 pending, my first thought was that it was a scam. Now that I am at the Lottery office claiming my prize, it's starting to hit me that this is real!"

He visited Lottery headquarters in Lansing to claim his long-awaited jackpot, which he plans on using to invest.

"What's crazy is the night before I matched four out of five numbers on my Fantasy 5 ticket and thought: 'I was so close!'" the winner related. "I was excited to win $100 but bummed that I was one number off a large jackpot prize. I never could have imagined then that the next night I would actually win the jackpot!"

"Our online games give players a convenient way to play in cases like this where they were not able to get to their favorite retailer," Lottery Commissioner Suzanna Shkreli said in a press release. "Our online platform also features robust responsible gaming tools to help players regulate their play making sure it stays fun and entertaining."

The Fantasy 5 jackpot currently stands at $110,000 for the next drawing on Mon., Aug. 12. Tickets cost $1 each. The odds of matching all five winning numbers to win the jackpot are 1 in 575,757.

Players may add the EZmatch feature to their ticket for an additional $1 per play for a chance to win up to $500 or the Double Play feature for a second chance to win up to $110,000 in the nightly Double Play drawing. Players may win prizes in the regular nightly drawing, the Double Play drawing, or both. Fantasy 5 drawings take place every day at 7:29 pm EST.

The winning numbers, jackpot, and prize amounts can be found on Lottery Post's Michigan Lottery Results page right after each drawing.