LANSING, April 24, 2002 – Kathleen Gamache of Chesterfield Township was speechless upon learning she had matched the first five numbers in the April 16 Big Game drawing to win a $150,000 prize! The winning numbers for that day’s drawing were: 7, 10, 25, 26, 27 and the Big Money Ball number was 23.

The winning "easy pick" ticket was purchased at Meijer #105, 27255 23 Mile Road in Chesterfield Township.

"I heard the winning numbers for the April 16 drawing on the radio, so I called my mother to verify them," Gamache said. "She had the ticket with her, so my dad checked the winning numbers when they read them off on the WDIV-TV 4 news, and when we realized I matched the first five, I was speechless—but I couldn’t stop screaming, I was so excited!"

Gamache, who works as a customer service representative at Comerica Bank, said she was not worried about anything happening to the winning ticket, because she has a "guard cat" who protected it! She added that she only plays Lottery games occasionally, so she was really surprised to win such a big prize!

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.

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