LANSING, January 17, 2008 – Five lucky Michigan Lottery players were winners in a Michigan Lottery drawing Tuesday night, with Charles Roemmelt of Dearborn Heights walking away with a $500,000 prize.

Roemmelt and four other finalists, each of whom was given $5,000 as an appearance fee, were selected to participate in the drawing, which was conducted during halftime of the Detroit Pistons-Toronto Raptors game at The Palace of Auburn Hills. Finalists qualified after submitting non-winning Treasure Tree tickets for the contest.

Pictured left to right Connie Fortner of Troy, Charles Roemmelt of Dearborn Heights, Dawn Zmolik of Clyde, George Pieprzyk of Detroit and Rita Sanders of Newport.

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/.