First-time player didn't even buy the ticket

By Kate Northrop

GRAND BLANC, Mich. — A Michigan woman had never played the lottery before in her life, but her first ticket, which she received as a gift, was all it took for her to win a $500,000 prize.

One Michigan woman had some outstanding beginner's luck on her first-ever lottery ticket, a gifted one no less, and she technically never even played it.

The anonymous Genessee County resident didn't think much of the $5 "Detroit Tigers" scratch-off ticket she was given, even tossing it to the side to come back to another day.

"I got the ticket as a gift, but I didn't know how to play it since I'd never played the lottery before, so I just set it aside and never scratched it," the lucky player told the Michigan Lottery.

The original purchaser bought the ticket at Saginaw Fuel Mid LLC on South Saginaw Street in Grand Blanc, and although it sat collecting dust for a few days in the winner's home, it finally caught the eye of someone else.

"A few days later, a family member saw the ticket laying around, so I told him he could scratch it for me," the winner continued. "I was cleaning up after dinner when he asked if it was some sort of prank ticket because it showed a $500,000 win. I figured he was joking, so I kept on cleaning the kitchen. He walked over to me and handed me the ticket with shaky hands."

And not too long after, she found herself at Lottery headquarters in Lansing claiming a six-figure top prize for a $5 scratch-off ticket.

"When I saw the $500,000 win, I didn't believe it was real until I took it to the store and had the clerk scan it," she conveyed to Lottery staff. "It still doesn't feel like this is really happening!"

With her first-ever lottery prize, she plans on paying off her car and saving whatever is left over.

She also claimed the last remaining top prize of $500,000 out of the three originally available at the game's launch in April 2025. However, there is still one more second-tier prize of $2,000 remaining, as well as 34 out of 302 third-tier prizes of $500.

According to the Lottery, players in Michigan have won more than $27 million playing the "Detroit Tigers" scratch-off game, and more than $4 million in prizes remain.

The overall odds of winning any prize in the game are 1 in 3.65.

(Click to display full-size in gallery)This winning lottery ticket was a gift that won an anonymous Michigan player her first-ever lottery prize of $500,000.