Million-dollar ticket finds temporary home underground

By Kate Northrop

PAW PAW, Mich. — A Michigan man won a $1 million prize in the lottery and then buried the winning ticket in the backyard of his home to keep it safe.

That's one way to dig up buried treasure — a Michigan lottery player instinctively buried his winning ticket worth $1 million in the backyard to prevent any harm from coming its way.

Hopefully, there aren't too many holes in one Van Buren County man's yard, but it's likely nothing a million dollars can't fix. The anonymous player recently visited Michigan Lottery headquarters in Lansing with two things: a winning lottery ticket worth $1 million and a story of how he kept it hidden.

It all started when he stopped at the Speedway gas station at 855 South Kalamazoo Street in Paw Paw, where he intended on buying one of his usual lottery tickets. However, things didn't go as planned.

"I play 'Cashword' tickets occasionally, but purchasing this ticket was a total fluke," the winner told the Lottery. "I asked the cashier for a different game, and she mistakenly handed me this 'Major Cashword' ticket instead. When she realized she gave me the wrong ticket, she offered to give me the game I'd asked for, but I told her I would just keep the 'Major Cashword' ticket instead.

He decided to wait until the following morning to check the $20 "Major Cashword" ticket he mistakenly received. The player scratched the barcode and had his wife scan the ticket.

It's not unusual for a state lottery to recommend that players keep their winning tickets in a safe spot. However, this winner arguably took the advice way more seriously than the average player.

"When $1 million came up on the screen, I felt like I couldn't breathe!" the 45-year-old recalled to Lottery officials. "I thought it was some sort of prank at first. Once I realized it was real, I put the ticket in a jar and buried it in the yard because I was so paranoid something would happen to it if I kept it in the house!"

The method of safeguarding the ticket must have worked, since he had recently brought the ticket to Lottery offices to validate it. He chose to receive his prize as a one-time lump sum payment of about $634,000.

"Lottery players find interesting ways to keep their tickets safe after scoring a big win," Lottery Commissioner Suzanna Shkreli said in a press release. "Burying the ticket in a Mason Jar is certainly a unique way to hang on to a winning ticket! Congratulations to the lucky winner on his $1 million buried treasure!"

With the winnings, the lucky player plans to pay off bills, pay off his home, and save for retirement.

According to the Lottery, Michigan players have won more than $67 million playing "Major Cashword," which launched in February 2024.

The anonymous man claimed the last of three top prizes of $1 million, leaving ten out of 37 second-tier prizes of $5,000 and 206 out of 763 third-tier prizes of $1,000 remaining in the $20 game.

The overall odds of winning any prize in the game are 1 in 3.28.