Kent County Man Wins $1 Million Powerball Prize from the Michigan Lottery

A Kent County man had a Powerball ticket in his wallet for nearly two months before finding out it was worth $1 million!

Michael Vander Lugt, of Wyoming, matched the five white balls – 05-09-35-54-63 – in the Aug. 8 Powerball drawing to win a $1 million prize. He bought the winning ticket at Big Top Market, located at 3630 Clyde Park Avenue Southwest in Wyoming.

“I recently stopped at the party store to get a pop but realized when checking out that I didn’t have enough cash on me,” said Vander Lugt. “Rather than use my card, I handed the cashier a few Powerball tickets from my wallet that I knew I had won at least a few bucks on.

“She scanned each of the tickets and said one came back with a message to file a claim at the lottery office, so I looked up the winning numbers for that drawing when I got in my car. I recognized the numbers as soon as I saw them and started freaking out! I can’t believe I had this ticket in my wallet for nearly two months not knowing it was worth $1 million.”

Vander Lugt, 54, recently visited Lottery headquarters to claim his prize. With his winnings, he plans to pay off his mortgage and invest.

Powerball plays may be purchased for $2 each at Lottery retailers across the state and online at MichiganLottery.com. A “Power Play” option that multiplies non-jackpot prizes by up to 10 times to a maximum of $2 million may be added to any Powerball play for only $1. For an additional $1 per play, Double Play may be added to a Powerball ticket, giving players a second chance to win up to $10 million in the nightly Double Play drawing.

The Powerball drawing takes place at 10:59 p.m. on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday and may be watched live online at: http://www.powerball.com. Powerball tickets are sold in 45 states, Washington D.C., U.S. Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, and the United Kingdom.