Electronic notifications are quite commonplace nowadays, but one such alert for an Oakland County woman wasn’t so mundane. It signaled her online Powerball win in Michigan worth $1 million earlier this year.
The prize made her just the latest in a growing list of Michiganders to win big prizes playing Michigan online lottery games thus far in 2021. Given the current rate, it won’t be long before the list grows again.
The million-dollar online Powerball win
Prior to the March 17 Powerball drawing, Colleen Wymer of Clinton Township bought a ticket through the MI Lottery’s website. She then exited the site, but didn’t forget about her play. Wymer explains what happened next.
“I often play the Powerball and Mega Millions games and win a few dollars here and there,” the 62-year-old winner said in a Michigan Lottery news release. “When I logged into my lottery account a few days after the drawing and saw a prize notification, I thought: ‘Wow, I hope it’s more than a couple (of) dollars this time.’
“When I saw it was a $1 million prize, I couldn’t believe it. I haven’t even thought about what I will do with my winnings yet because I’m still in shock. It doesn’t seem real.”
Wymer recently visited the MI lottery’s headquarters to claim her prize. The release from the lottery doesn’t denote whether she took the annuity or lump sum. Regardless, it was a massive return on her $2 play.
She isn’t alone in the state this year in terms of enjoying an exponential return playing the lottery. In fact, a room full of people who have won seven figures or more in lottery prizes in MI in 2021 would be getting quite cramped.
More Michigan winners every day, it seems
Earlier this month, the MI lottery celebrated surpassing 20 winners of prizes of at least $1 million in 2021. In terms of prizes of that size, the MI lottery database indicates that players have won 25 this year. Six of those prizes have been won since Wymer’s March victory.
Wymer seems to have bucked the trend for million-dollar prize winners in one way. Of those 25 prizes, only three others besides hers came from online ticket purchases. The other 21 were retail sales.
Interestingly, those other million-plus online wins all came playing Lucky for Life and were worth $5.75 million each. One of those wins came on March 10, while the other two each happened Feb. 10. This year has turned up bunches of six-figure wins from online plays, however.
No matter whether you play in-person or online, the MI lottery could mint you as the next million-dollar winner. If you do play online, though, you might be the next to receive a notification that you certainly won’t want to ignore.
