‘Is this real?’ Man with huge Michigan lottery win has girlfriend double check ticket

A 48-year-old man who has been playing “The Perfect Gift” lottery game in Michigan said he recently won $10, then used that money to buy another ticket.

He began scratching off that second ticket, and what he saw next was hard to believe. He won a $500,000 prize, according to a Dec. 7 news release from the Michigan Lottery.

“When I scratched the ticket off and saw I’d won $500,000, all I could think was: ‘Is this real?’” the man told lottery officials when claiming his prize.

He said he even had his girlfriend double check the ticket “to make sure I was reading it right.”

The Manistee County man, who chose to remain anonymous, did read it right.

He recently went to claim his prize, officials said, and now he is planning a Florida vacation.

“Winning is a great feeling and couldn’t have happened at a better time,” he said in the release.

After taxes, he took home $358,780.

He bought his winning ticket at Wesco gas station on Cypress Street in Manistee, about 120 miles north of Grand Rapids in western Michigan.

This story was originally published December 7, 2022 at 1:46 PM with the headline "‘Is this real?’ Man with huge Michigan lottery win has girlfriend double check ticket."