• A man decided to play the lottery just for fun
• He bought several tickets, never expecting to win
• This seemingly random decision fetched him a $5.5m jackpot

A man in Michigan has every reason to be happy after a lottery purchase, he made on a whim will now turn his life around – or at least add considerable wealth to his portfolio. One 43-year-old man from Van Buren County decided to try his luck playing the Lotto 47 game.

Lottery winner in Michigan secures $5.5m payday

He bought a few tickets, just to give it a proper try, but soon realized that what had started in jest was actually shaping up to be a life-altering event – the man won $5.46m from the April 23 drawing, with numbers 13-25-30-35-38 and 46. He had bought the ticket from a Speedway gas station at 3908 South Westnedge Avenue in Kalamazoo, and the venue will also get a small premium as well.

The winner had not revealed his name but was happy to participate in some of the customary lottery promotional events, such as offering a brief statement about how he bought the tickets, and what he intended to do with the money.

Of course, as is usually the case in such instances, the winner had a difficult time believing what had happened.

When he saw the winning numbers, he instantly recognized them as his own, but had to keep rechecking the ticket – the whole situation was incredible to believe, he told lottery officials. Once realization settled in, though, his whole family could somehow feel the news without him uttering it:

"Once I was sure I'd really won the jackpot, I ran out the door and down the street because I was so excited! My wife didn't know what was going on, so my daughter said to her, ‘I think Dad just won the Lottery!' Winning a prize like this feels unreal and is still sinking in."

So, what is the lottery winner going to do? Is he going to opt for a rather small annuity of $182,000 for the next 30 years or grab the lump sum in one go?

Well, as is naturally the case, the man had chosen to go with the full payment, which means he will have to forfeit quite a bit of tax but still get a sizeable $3.7m in the end.

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