National

Lottery player thinks machine is broken when scanning ticket — then she looks closer

A Michigan lottery player was confused when the lottery machine told her to file a claim. Then, she looked down at her ticket and saw her prize.
A Michigan lottery player was confused when the lottery machine told her to file a claim. Then, she looked down at her ticket and saw her prize. Photo by Michigan Lottery

A Michigan woman took her lottery ticket to the store to “double check” it, she told officials. When she scanned the ticket, the machine told her to file a claim.

Confused by the message, the 54-year-old continued to scan the ticket, getting the same message each time. She told officials she thought the machine was broken.

She took the ticket to the cashier who also got the same message after scanning the ticket at the counter.

Then, the woman from Lapeer County took a closer look at her ticket — and learned it was a $300,000 winner.

“I just kept thinking,‘This can’t be real,’” the winner said. “I showed my mom, and she couldn’t believe it either!”

The winner plans to pay her bills and pay off her home using her winnings, she said.

“I’m still trying to wrap my head around winning $300,000! It feels so surreal,” she told officials.

Lapeer County is about a 65-mile drive north from Detroit.

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This story was originally published July 9, 2024 at 1:24 PM with the headline "Lottery player thinks machine is broken when scanning ticket — then she looks closer."

Kate Linderman
mcclatchy-newsroom
Kate Linderman covers national news for McClatchy’s real-time team. She reports on politics and crime and courts news in the Midwest. Kate is a 2023 graduate of DePaul University and is based in Chicago.
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