Mistake earns lucky man £20,000 a year lottery prize for the rest of his life
A clerk's mistake has earned a lucky man a $25,000 (£20,000) a-year lottery prize for the rest of his life.
Michael Sopejstal was astonished when he checked his ticket and realised he had matched numbers 11, 15, 17, 24, and 48, on Michigan Lottery's 'Lucky for Life' draw. The lucky player from Illinois, US, said the win happened after an employee at the GoLo gas station in New Buffalo, Michigan, gave him the wrong ticket.
Michael, 60, said: "I come to Michigan every few weeks to eat at my favourite restaurant and I always get a Lucky for Life ticket for 10 or 20 draws while I'm here. I asked the retailer for a ticket for 10 draws, but he accidentally printed a ticket with 10 lines for one draw, but I told him I still wanted it.
"I checked my ticket one morning and saw that I had won $25,000 a year for life. I immediately started thinking about all the things I could do with the money and whether I wanted to take the lump sum or annuity option. It was an amazing feeling!"
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Michael Sopejstal's winning ticket which secured him $25,000 (£20,000) a year for the rest of his life (Newsflash)At lottery headquarters, he was given the option to choose between a one-time payment of $390,000 (£311,000), or $25,000 a year for the next 20 years. He chose the lump sum, and said he would use a part of it to travel and save the remainder.
Michigan Lottery representatives said: "For just $2 (£1.60) per play, Lucky For Life gives Lottery players a chance to win prizes ranging from $3 (£2.40) to a lifetime of cash. To win the game's top prize of $1,000 (£800) a day for life, players must match all five winning numbers ranging from 1 to 48, plus one Lucky Ball ranging from 1 to 18.
"Players who match all five winning numbers, but not the Lucky Ball, will win $25,000 a year for life. Drawings take place at 10.38pm, seven days a week."
The Mirror told in July how a woman had two reasons to celebrate after she scooped the lottery jackpot on her husband's birthday while making a "quick stop" at the shop.
Kristin Murawski, 46, said her husband's "jaw dropped" when she told him she had hit the winning numbers. Originally from Washtenaw County in Michigan State, she won $288,903 (£225,000) on the Fantasy 5 draw on Friday, July 21.
In total, she ended up matching all five numbers: 21, 23, 25, 34, and 38. She'd bought her winning ticket at the Red Party Store in Willis, about 25 miles south of Ann Arbor, while out shopping on her husband, Scott's, birthday. Kristin said: "I like to play Fantasy 5 when the jackpot gets over $150,000. We made a quick stop at Red's and I saw the jackpot was way past $150,000 so I grabbed a ticket.
"It was my husband Scott's, birthday so we stopped at our neighbour's house on the way home to celebrate. While we were there, my brother-in-law texted my husband the winning numbers.
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