Great Lakes Wire

An Oceana County resident has won $1 million through the Michigan Lottery's Millionaire Raffle game. The 63-year-old woman, who has chosen to remain anonymous, initially turned a $100 online prize into a substantial win by purchasing her raffle ticket on MichiganLottery.com.

The winner recounted her experience: “I won $100 playing an online game, so I decided to use some of my winnings to purchase Powerball and Mega Millions tickets online,” she said. “When I was purchasing those tickets, I saw the Millionaire Raffle game and thought: ‘Why not?’ and purchased one ticket."

She added that she had forgotten about the raffle ticket until receiving an email from the Lottery with details on claiming her prize. Upon logging into her account, she discovered the $1 million prize pending. “I logged out and logged back in several times and the prize was still there, so I knew it had to be real. I am still trying to wrap my head around it!” she expressed.

Lottery Commissioner Suzanna Shkreli commented on the unexpected windfall: “Purchasing a Millionaire Raffle ticket on a whim led to a huge $1 million payday for this lucky player!” She highlighted that the Lottery’s online platform provides various ways for players to engage with instant games, draw games, and raffles like the Millionaire Raffle.

The winning player recently visited Lottery headquarters to claim her prize and plans to save her winnings.

The Millionaire Raffle is an auto-renewing game that launched on December 10. It offers 100,000 tickets per drawing cycle. Once all tickets are sold, a drawing occurs awarding one $1 million top prize and 100 prizes of $1,000 each. Afterward, new tickets become available for purchase.

Players can verify their tickets by checking winning numbers online at MichiganLottery.com or through their Michigan Lottery accounts.

Since its inception in 2014, more than 1 million players have registered for Michigan Lottery's online games. The platform offers over 200 different games with varying price points from 5 cents up to $50. For more information or to play online, visit https://news.michiganlottery.com/OnlineGames.