LANSING, June 20, 2000 — Tommasina Smith of Washington recently made a trip to her neighborhood Big Boy Restaurant to dine with several members of her family. While the dinner was relatively uneventful, the events that transpired following dinner were anything but — that is when Smith discovered she had matched the first five numbers in the June 9 Big Game drawing to win the $150,000 prize! That day’s winning numbers were: 6, 7, 25, 34, 45 and the Big Money Ball number was 2.

As Smith was paying for her dinner at the cashier stand, she noticed the restaurant had a Lottery ticket machine. She had a Big Game ticket with her that she hadn’t yet had a chance to check, so she decided to check the numbers right then.

"I handed my ticket to the cashier so he could run it through the Lottery machine," Smith said. "He told me I had to take the ticket to Lottery headquarters to cash it."

Once the cashier told her he couldn’t cash it, she knew she must have won a large prize, but was still unsure how much she had won!

"My daughter picked up a Big Game brochure to find out what I had won," she said. "She got really excited and said, ‘Mom, you won $150,000!’ I was in shock! I haven’t slept a wink since learning I won."

The 72-year-old winner purchased the winning Big Game "easy pick" ticket at Franklin Drugs, 2101 17 Mile Road, in Sterling Heights. Prior to turning the winning ticket in at Lottery headquarters in Lansing, Smith said she had her son keep it to ensure its safety.

The lucky lady, who enjoys collecting "Betty Boops" and angels in her free time, said she plans to share part of her winnings with her family and use the rest to fix up her house and make investments.

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 (Tuesday), June 20, with an estimated jackpot of $10 million.

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