LANSING, February 29, 2000 – It took more than a week for Warren resident L.E. Bird to discover she had a winning Michigan Lottery ticket, and she was stunned to find it was worth an incredible $15 million! Bird was the only Big Game player in seven states to correctly match all six winning numbers in the February 11, 2000, Big Game drawing: 05, 27, 36, 37, 42, and the Big Money Ball number, 20.
The jackpot that night was worth $15 million, but Bird opted to collect her prize in one lump-sum payment of $7,433,100, the present cash value of that day’s jackpot, before taxes. Bird’s winning Big Game ticket was purchased at Original Buscemi’s #3, 27980 Hoover Road, in Warren.
“I had gone to Buscemi’s to purchase a ticket for another drawing, and there was a sign in the window that said they had sold the jackpot-winning ticket but no one had claimed it yet,” said Bird during her recent visit to Michigan Lottery headquarters in Lansing.
“I went home to check my numbers and then I looked at the Lottery’s Web site (www.state.mi.us/milottery) to double-check them again,” she said. “I knew right away that I had the winning ticket because these are the same numbers I’ve always played. These numbers have very special significance to me.”
Bird said she has been a fairly regular player of Michigan Lottery games for the past 15 years. Now that she’s the seventh Big Game jackpot winner in Michigan Lottery history, this lucky lady said she plans to use her winnings to travel extensively and “do special things” for her family.
“There’s just no way I could have ever expected this to happen to me,” said Bird. “You just have to keep playing; I will!”
The Big Game is a multistate lottery game in Michigan, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Virginia. Wagers cost $1 each and tickets may be purchased at more than 6,400 Michigan Lottery retailers statewide.
Big Game drawings are conducted every Tuesday and Friday at 11 p.m. The next Big Game drawing is tonight, Feb. 29, with an expected jackpot of $15 million!
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