
The best Christmas gift was the one she kept
By Kate Northrop
WESTPHALIA, Mich. — A generous Michigan woman bought several lottery tickets to give to her family members as Christmas gifts and won $1 million from the ticket she kept for herself.
One Michigan resident had her family in mind when she purchased a bunch of lottery tickets for them as presents, but she was not expecting to give herself $1 million instead.
The 66-year-old player, who chose to remain anonymous, visited Ox's Smoked Meats on West Main Street in Westphalia ahead of the holiday and picked out numerous tickets, including one for herself.
"I bought several lottery tickets to give to family members as Christmas gifts, and this 'Major Cashword' ticket is the only ticket I purchased for myself," the player told the Michigan Lottery.
The "Major Cashword" ticket was a $20 crossword-themed game that offered a top prize of $1 million. While she could have scratched it off at any time, she managed to hold off on playing it until Christmas when everyone else could open their gifts too.
"I scratched the ticket on Christmas and thought I won $1,000 because I didn't count all the words right away," she recalled. "I scanned it on my Lottery app and was in complete and total disbelief when $1 million came up on the screen! I showed my husband and kids what I'd won and then immediately locked the ticket in the safe."
"Finding out you won a $1 million Lottery prize on Christmas surrounded by your family is an amazing and exciting way to win," Lottery Commissioner Suzanna Shkreli said in a press release. "Congratulations to the lucky player on her big win!"
The winner recently visited Lottery headquarters in Lansing to claim her prize, opting for the one-time lump sum payout of about $634,000. With the winnings, she'll take a few trips and save whatever is left.
"I give Lottery tickets as gifts every year, and my dad has always said that one of these years someone is going to win big," the Clinton County woman said. "I can't believe it was me! I'm still in shock."
Following the woman's big win, there is just one of three top prizes of $1 million remaining in the $20 "Major Cashword" game, as well as 17 out of 37 second-tier prizes of $5,000 and 317 out of 763 third-tier prizes of $1,000.
The overall odds of winning any prize in the game are 1 in 3.28.
SULLY?????
Lucky lucky..........nice win indeed.
I wish, Congrats to the very generous woman, I'm sure she'll share her good fortune.
So the dollar scratchies. were. all duds
congrats to her
It does NOT say anywhere in the article that the woman purchased $1 lottery tickets for her family members and kept the $20 lottery ticket for herself. I suspect she purchased $20 lottery tickets for each of them but only purchased the crossword ticket for herself. Sound like Tony Numbers would purchase $1 tickets for family and the $20 ticket for himself...LOL!
You did get the joke LOL. The post was tongue in cheek. It seemed funny that she gave multiple tickets away but kept the $20 winner for herself
I don't think she bought $20 tickets for everyone and if not, I would think it best to scratch hers later out of sight of everyone else.