A Kent County man carried a $1 million Powerball ticket in his wallet for two months without knowing

Michael Vander Lugt of Wyoming, Michigan, had a $1 million Powerball winning ticket in his wallet for nearly two months before he knew, the Michigan Lottery said. The ticket matched all five white balls, 05, 09, 35, 54, and 63, in the Saturday, August 8, drawing and missed only the Powerball, 7. He bought it at Big Top Market, 3630 Clyde Park Avenue Southwest.

He learned about it at the party store. Short on cash for a pop, he gave the cashier a few Powerball tickets from his wallet that he knew had won a few dollars. “She scanned each of the tickets and said one came back with a message to file a claim at the lottery office,” Vander Lugt said. He looked up that drawing's numbers in his car. “I recognized the numbers as soon as I saw them and started freaking out!” Vander Lugt, 54, has since claimed the prize at lottery headquarters and plans to pay off his mortgage and invest.

The ticket cost $2, without Power Play. With it, the prize would have been $2 million. Four other tickets matched all five white balls that night, according to official Powerball results, in Arizona, Florida, and New York for $1 million each and in Texas with Power Play for $2 million. Nobody hit the $863.8 million jackpot. Two drawings later, on August 12, an Illinois ticket won it at $1.04 billion.

After the 24% federal withholding and Michigan's 4.25% income tax, a $1 million prize leaves about $717,500. Another Kent County player, a woman who won $1 million on a scratch-off, claimed her prize earlier this year. The next Powerball drawing, Wednesday, carries an estimated $716 million jackpot, and the Powerball analysis page tracks its cash value. Michigan's scratch-offs are ranked by prizes left.

Sources

Michigan Lottery Connect: Kent County man wins $1 million from Powerball with ticket kept in wallet for two months

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