Michigan man mistakenly buys lottery ticket, wins two $110K prizes

A fortunate lottery player accidentally bought two tickets for the same popular lottery game drawing and ended up winning two six-figure prizes. This is the tale of a man from Livingston County, who hit the jackpot twice with the Michigan Lottery’s Fantasy 5 game.

At 68 years old, a man from Pinckney decided to try his luck with the Fantasy 5 drawing on June 15. While on vacation in northern Michigan with his wife, he bought his first ticket. After returning home, he couldn't remember if he had purchased a Fantasy 5 ticket, so he decided to buy another one for the same drawing. One of his tickets was bought at Krist Food Mart on US Highway 31 North in Charlevoix, and the other at Toski Sands Party Store on M 119 in Petoskey. In a fortunate twist, both tickets turned out to be winners, each earning him a $110,000 Double Play prize. In an interview with a Michigan Lottery official, the man from Livingston County shared that he has been using the same set of Fantasy 5 numbers for years. A few days after we got home from vacation, I sorted through over a week’s worth of tickets and started checking them, he said. Upon recognizing the Double Play winning ticket for the June 15 drawing, he immediately called his wife with the exciting news. After getting off the phone with my wife, I checked the rest of my tickets and realized I had two tickets for the same drawing, winning another $110,000 prize, he recalled, describing the moment he discovered the second winning ticket. I called my wife again and said, 'You’re not going to believe this, but I won a second $110,000 prize!' I couldn’t believe it, he said. When asked about his plans for his winnings, he happily shared that he plans to spoil his grandkids, buy a new truck, and save the rest.

Fantasy 5 drawings take place daily, with each play costing $1. For an additional $1 per play, you can choose the EZmatch option for a chance to instantly win up to $500. Alternatively, another $1 per play can unlock the Double Play feature, giving you a second opportunity to win up to $110,000 in the nightly Double Play drawing. In Fantasy 5, players select five numbers from 1 to 39, and matching all five winning numbers secures the Fantasy 5 jackpot, which begins at $100,000.