LANSING, April 16, 2002 – "My mom is always telling me how much fun it is to play Lottery games," said Melissa Anderson of Ypsilanti. It turns out mother does always know best—upon purchasing a ticket, Anderson won a $150,000 Big Game prize in the April 12 drawing! The winning numbers for that day’s drawing were 6, 13, 14, 17, 41 and the Big Money Ball number was 6.

The winning "easy pick" ticket was purchased at Willis Market, 10079 Willis Road, in Willis.

"I originally stopped at a local convenience store to purchase some Big Game tickets, but they no longer sold them," Anderson said. "I purchased some later that day while I was shopping for groceries. I never even checked the winning numbers until the Monday following the drawing, and when I saw I had matched the first five numbers, I still didn’t think I had won anything. I thought you had to match the Big Money Ball to win a prize—I was in shock when I checked on the Lottery Web site (www.michigan.gov/lottery) and saw I had won $150,000!"

The lucky winner said she kept the ticket hidden under a bleach bottle in her home before turning it in at Lottery headquarters in Lansing. She added that she tried to keep the lucky ticket as much of a secret as possible, but told a few neighbors about her good fortune. Anderson also said she plans to use her winnings to pay bills and make home improvements.

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 7,000 Michigan Lottery retailers statewide.

Big Game drawings are conducted every Tuesday and Friday at 11 p.m. The next Big Game drawing is Tuesday, April 16, with an expected jackpot of $325 million—the second largest jackpot in the Big Game’s history! For more information, visit www.theofficialbiggame.com.