Hitting a substantial lottery score is often life-changing. And it can be difficult to maintain humility despite achieving some literal good fortune.
But one Grand Rapids woman plans to pay it forward after winning a $1 million Mega Millions prize last month.
From groceries to other greens
Sumayyah Waver, 39, matched the five white balls drawn — 07-11-33-58-63 — in the June 1 drawing to win a $1 million prize, the Michigan Lottery announced Monday in a news release. She bought her winning ticket at the Meijer store located at 1997 East Beltline Avenue Northeast in Grand Rapids.
“I like to play a variety of Lottery games, so I purchased a few tickets when I was getting groceries,” Waver said in the release. “About a week later, I checked the tickets. When I realized I’d won $1 million I was blown away!”
Waver visited state lottery headquarters to claim her prize. Her plan, according to the news release, is to pay off her student debt and then pay her good fortune forward.
“I am blessed with the people in my life and what I do for a living, so this will allow me to feel free and enjoy life even more,” she said.
Will we see more jackpot-like prizes with more drawings?
This announcement comes in the wake of several multi-state lottery games choosing to increase the frequency of their drawings. Powerball, for example, is expected to add a Monday drawing next month to its current Wednesday-and-Saturday setup.
Lucky for Life has moved to a daily drawing as of July 19, with a jackpot giving winners $1,000 a day for the rest of their lives (paid out in yearly $365,000 installments). Winners could also choose a one-time lump sum of $5.75 million.
Mega Millions drawings, however, still are scheduled to take place each Tuesday and Friday evening for now in the twice-weekly format. Each Mega Millions play is $2, with the opportunity to add a $1 “Megaplier” to multiply non-jackpot prizes by up to five times.
It should be and the odds to hit five numbers without a Megaplier for a $1 million score are always the same (1 in more than 12.6 million), no matter how many times the drawing may occur. Your odds for winning some kind of Powerball prize are the same in each drawing (1 in 24.9), regardless of the jackpot.
Mega Millions tickets for may be purchased online at MichiganLottery.com or at retailers around the state until 10:45 p.m. the day of each drawing.
