An Illinois man is Lucky for Life after playing the Michigan Lottery two months ago.
Lottery officials say that Michael Sopejstal, 60, purchased the winning ticket at a GoLo station in New Buffalo. That ticket matched the numbers drawn on Sept. 17.
Those numbers were: 11-15-17-24-48.
“I come to Michigan every few weeks to eat at my favorite restaurant and I always get a Lucky for Life ticket for 10 or 20 draws while I’m here,” said Sopejstal. “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!”
Sopejstal opted to receive the $390,000 lump-sum payment instead of collecting $25,000 per year. He intends to use his winnings to travel and pocket what’s left.
According to the Michigan Lottery, you can play Lucky For Life for just $2 and get a shot at winning prizes from $3 to a lifetime of cash.
This story was originally published at Scripps News Grand Rapids.
