LANSING, December 12, 2007 – James and Cindy Evans of Mattawan won big when James scratched a winning Treasure Tree Instant ticket worth $500,000!

James said he has been playing the Lottery for about 10 years and was having his coffee and doughnut when he scratched the winning ticket. He was shocked and thought “this can’t be right”.

The couple plan to use the prize money to pay bills and take a trip to the casino.

The winning ticket was purchased at Themar #14, 26778 M43, in PawPaw.

Treasure Tree is just one of many Michigan Lottery Instant tickets available at nearly 11,000 Lottery retailers statewide.

Over 95 cents of every dollar spent on Lottery tickets is returned to the state in the form of contributions to the state School Aid Fund, prizes to players and commissions to retailers. In fiscal year 2007, the contribution to schools was $748.9 million. Since its inception in 1972, the Lottery has contributed more than $14.3 billion to education in Michigan.

For additional information, please visit the Lottery’s Web site at https://www.michiganlottery.com/.

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