A Michigan man missed winning the lottery jackpot by a single number. The next day, he won big
By Ashley R. Williams, CNN
(CNN) — After a Michigan man was one number off from matching all five winning numbers in the state’s Fantasy 5 jackpot last month, he got back into the action the next day. It paid off and he walked away with a huge payout.
The 53-year-old man from Macomb County, who chose not to reveal his identity, says the night after his near win, he played again and matched all five numbers to win the $795,905 Fantasy 5 jackpot, the Michigan Lottery said in a news release Thursday.
The player won big after purchasing a winning ticket online on July 27, according to lottery officials. The jackpot for the July 26 game was $610,000.
“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.”
He went online to buy two tickets, and after the drawing, he says he received an email from the Michigan Lottery stating he’d won $1 in the drawing, according to the release.
He thought the dollar was all he’d won until he received another email instructing him to log into his account to claim his prize, he said.
“When I logged in and saw $795,905 pending, my first thought was that it was a scam,” he told lottery officials, adding that the reality of his big win began to set in while visiting the lottery office to claim his prize.
“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!’” he told officials.
He had won $100, but says he was “bummed” to miss out on the large jackpot prize. “I never could have imagined then that the next night I would actually win the jackpot!” he said.
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