The Michigan Lottery announced Thursday that a planned system upgrade has been scheduled for Sunday, Jan. 22, at retailers across the state.
During the upgrade, which is scheduled to take place from approximately 12 to 11 a.m., players will not be able to purchase, cash or check lottery tickets at retailers. This includes self-service machines.
Tickets can be purchased online at MichiganLottery.com or on the Michigan Lottery mobile app during the outage. The ticket scanner feature of the app will be unavailable.
Michigan Lottery scheduled outage Sunday, Jan. 22
The Michigan Lottery has been working with gaming system partner International Game Technology for more than a year to upgrade equipment at lottery retailers across the state.
Sunday’s shutdown is part of the final step in the project, which will connect the equipment to the new gaming system.
Players who have online accounts will receive email notifications about the maintenance. Those with the lottery app will also receive push notifications with updates.
Michigan Lottery social media accounts will also be providing updates.
Michigan woman wins $500,000 Powerball prize
On the same day the lottery announced Sunday’s scheduled maintenance, it was announced that a Rochester woman had won $500,000 on a recent Powerball drawing.
Deborah Bates, 65, matched four white balls and the Powerball in the Dec. 14 drawing. Her $50,000 prize was bumped up to $500,000 thanks to the Power Play.
“I play Powerball every once in a while, and usually check the results the morning after the drawing,” Bates said in a release. “I couldn’t sleep one night, so I was playing on my phone, when an email from the Lottery came through that said: ‘Your winnings have arrived.’ When I logged in to my Lottery account and saw my account balance was $500,000, I couldn’t believe it! I woke my husband up and had him look everything over to make sure it was real. It still hasn’t sunk in that I won!”
Bates purchased her ticket online, and recently visited Michigan Lottery headquarters to claim her prize. She said she plans to save her winnings.
The Powerball jackpot has reached $473 million for the Saturday, Jan. 21, drawing. Tickets are $2, and the Power Play can be added to any ticket for an additional $1.
