Good fortune struck twice for a 59-year-old Michigan man who played the lottery in the last six months. The Michigan Lottery said that the man from Wayne County, who preferred to remain anonymous, won $110,000 in the Feb. 11 Fantasy 5 Double Play drawing. Back in August, he also won $110,000 for playing the same game, according to Michigan Lottery Connect, the state’s official lottery news source.
According to lottery officials, the man purchased his latest lucky ticket at a BP gas station in Southfield. the same place where he bought his earlier winning lottery ticket in August. As he later recalled, the man decided to switch up his Fantasy 5 numbers after previously winning the $110,000 prize last year.
“I took my tickets to the store to check and replay them,” he said, per Michigan Lottery Connect. “The clerk scanned the tickets and handed me one back and said: ‘I think you won big!’ I thought: ‘There is no way, I can’t be that lucky.’ I looked up the winning numbers, and sure enough, I had won again! I couldn’t believe it. Winning is such a blessing!”
When he won his previous jackpot, the man used his winnings to pay off his debts. With his latest prize, he said that he was going to have some fun. “ I don’t have any special plans for the money yet,” he told the Michigan Lottery, “I plan to sit back and just look at it in my bank account for a while.”
The Fantasy 5 game, which costs $1 to play, involves players picking five numbers from 1 to 39. Those who select the five numbers correctly win a prize that starts at $100,000, according to the Michigan Lottery. For another $1, a Double Play is added to the Fantasy 5 game, allowing players to win up to $110,000 in the drawing.
Other Michiganders recently scored big in their state’s lottery. James Allen of Commerce Township won $200,000 in a December Powerball drawing by combining his kids’ birthdays as numbers.
In November, the Michigan Lottery announced that a man from Livingston County won $1 million in playing the Diamond & Pearls scratch-off game, whose ticket he bought the day after he got married.