LANSING, April 24, 2002 – The past few weeks have been extremely lucky for Detroit-area Big Game players like Frederick Froehlich of Macomb! Froehlich matched the first five numbers in the April 12 Big Game drawing to win a $150,000 prize! 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 Smokers Express, 52847 Hayes Road, in Shelby Township.

"I heard the winning numbers for the April 12 drawing during the morning news program on a local radio station," Froehlich said. "I couldn’t believe what I had heard, so I bought a newspaper to double-check the winning numbers. I also went to the store and got a winning number printout. When we were sure we held a winning ticket, my wife and I just grinned at each other all day!"

Froehlich said he kept the ticket in a safe deposit box prior to turning it in at Lottery headquarters in Lansing. He added that he plans to use his winnings to help his nieces and nephews pay for their college expenses.

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 Friday, April 26, with an expected jackpot of $12 million.

# # #