WATERFORD TOWNSHIP, Mich. – An Oakland County man bought a scratch-off lottery ticket worth $4 million, but it sat forgotten in a drawer for three months.
The 59-year-old man bought his ticket at the Marathon gas station at 3235 West Walton Boulevard in Waterford Township.
“When I play instant games, I never scratch off the amounts, even if I win, because I like the surprise of finding out the winning amount when I take it to a store to cash it,” he said. “When I scratched my Millionaire’s Club ticket, I saw I won, but per usual, I didn’t scratch the amount. I put the ticket in a drawer to keep it for the next time I needed some extra cash.”
He said he remembered the ticket about three months later, so he took it to the store.
“I got a message to file a claim at the lottery office, so I finally scratched the amount,” he said. “When I saw it was a $4 million winner, I was amazed. I couldn’t even fathom it. It’s been very hard to wrap my head around.”
The man recently visited Michigan Lottery headquarters to claim his winnings. He decided to take a one-time lump sum of $2.7 million.
He chose to remain anonymous.
The man said he plans to invest and start a new company.