Lottery player sees confetti on phone screen and thinks he’s dreaming. ‘Wake me up!’

A 29-year-old man was sure both lottery tickets he purchased would not be winners, but the second scratch-off turned out to be one that will change his life.

The lottery player from Oakland County, Michigan, won big after purchasing two Lucky Match tickets at a BP gas station in Auburn Hills, the Michigan Lottery said in a Nov. 30 news release.

“I bought two instant games after work one night and scratched them when I got home,” the player, who asked to remain anonymous, told lottery officials. “I didn’t win anything on the first ticket, and I thought the second one was going to be a non-winner too.”

He said he thought the second ticket was fake when it revealed the “1MIL” symbol. The player then scanned his ticket on the Michigan Lottery app, which showed he won the $1 million jackpot.

“When confetti came up with the amount of $1 million, I thought I was dreaming!” he said. “I yelled: ‘Wake me up! This can’t be real!’ I called my family right away to tell them the good news.”

He chose the one-time lump sum payment of $693,000 and said he plans on using his winnings to start a business and help his family.

Lucky Match costs $10 to play and offers three top prizes of $1 million. There were also 48 prizes worth $10,000 when the game began in September.

Auburn Hills is about 35 miles northwest of Detroit.

This story was originally published November 30, 2023 at 11:43 AM with the headline "Lottery player sees confetti on phone screen and thinks he’s dreaming. ‘Wake me up!’."