Business & Tech

Oakland County Hit $500 Lottery Player $1M Instant Winner

The winning ticket was sold in Keego Harbor.

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Beth Dalbey, Patch StaffVerified Patch Staff Badge

KEEGO HARBOR, MI – An Oakland County lottery player’s fortune changed with a small pile of “lottery dust,” the thick coats of latex ink that fall away from scratch-off tickets.

The identity of Oakland County’s newest millionaire — a man who bought the winning ticket at the Pine Lake Market, 3391 Orchard Lake Road, Keego Harbor — is a mystery, though, the Michigan State Lottery said in a press release.

The lucky player in the Michigan Lottery’s Hit $500 instant game chose to remain anonymous after he scratched the ticket to reveal a “star” symbol above the “1MIL” to automatically win the $1 million prize. He continued scratching off his other tickets, and the fact that he was already a millionaire didn’t seem to register later, according to the press release.

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When he claimed his prize at Lottery headquarters, he chose to take a lump sum payment of $634,517, rather than an annuity. He said he wants to buy a new car and tuck the rest away.

Hit $500 is a relatively new Lottery game. Since the $10-a-ticket game was launched in April, players have won nearly $6.3 million, the Lottery said. Still to be won are more than $61 million in prizes, including two more $1 million prizes, 42 $10,000 prizes and 127 $1,000 prizes.

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