Unknowingly carrying around a million-dollar prize in a spot that often goes overlooked

By Kate Northrop

WYOMING, Mich. — A Michigan man was unknowingly walking around with a million dollars in his pocket for nearly two months before he discovered that he had a $1 million winning Powerball ticket in his wallet.

One Michigan lottery player had been living in ignorant bliss of a $1 million winning Powerball ticket sitting in a spot that he had daily access to for nearly two months.

Michael Vander Lugt of Wyoming, Michigan, had carried around several Powerball tickets, including one special ticket from the Aug. 8 drawing, before an innocent stop for a soda had finally brought it into the spotlight.

"I recently stopped at the party store to get a pop but realized when checking out that I didn't have enough cash on me," Vander Lugt told the Michigan Lottery. "Rather than use my card, I handed the cashier a few Powerball tickets from my wallet that I knew I had won at least a few bucks on."

The cashier took the unassuming tickets and checked them, but one of them was not like the others.

"She scanned each of the tickets and said one came back with a message to file a claim at the lottery office, so I looked up the winning numbers for that drawing when I got in my car," the winner continued. "I recognized the numbers as soon as I saw them and started freaking out!"

The winning numbers were 5, 9, 35, 54, and 63, just missing the red Powerball number 7 needed to win the $863.8 million jackpot. For matching all five white ball numbers, he had won the game's second-tier prize of $1 million.

Vander Lugt recently visited Lottery headquarters in Lansing to claim the prize, a press release stated, and with the winnings, he plans to pay off his mortgage and invest. He had purchased the winning ticket at Big Top Market on Clyde Park Avenue in Wyoming before it was tucked away out of sight.

"I can't believe I had this ticket in my wallet for nearly two months not knowing it was worth $1 million," he related to Lottery officials.

The next Powerball annuity jackpot estimate for the drawing on Wednesday, Oct. 28 currently stands at $716 million.

Powerball is currently offered for sale in 45 states, plus Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Drawings are Mondays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays at 10:59 p.m. Eastern Time. Tickets cost $2 each.

Powerball lottery results are published within minutes of the drawing at USA Mega (www.usamega.com). The USA Mega website provides lottery players in-depth information about the United States' two biggest multi-state lottery games, Mega Millions and Powerball.

(Click to display full-size in gallery)Michael Vander Lugt's winning Powerball ticket.