LANSING, March 17, 2008 – When Ed Duski realized he had won $250,000 he had to sit down! Luckily the store where he checked the ticket had a stool for him to rest on. “People kept coming in and out of the store while I was sitting there; they said I was really white.”

Ed and his wife Jan claimed their prize after matching all five white balls in the March 7 Mega Millions drawing. The couple said they don’t normally play the Lottery and Jan thought Ed was playing an early April Fool’s joke on her when he told her they had won.

They plan to use their prize money to pay a few bills, take a vacation and help with their daughter’s college tuition next year.

The winning easy pick ticket was purchased at 7-Eleven 089B, 134 N. Center Ave., in Gaylord.

Mega Millions is a multi-state lottery game in Michigan, California, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Texas, Virginia and Washington. Wagers cost $1 each and tickets may be purchased at nearly 11,000 Michigan Lottery retailers statewide. Sales close at 10:45 p.m. Tuesday for the 11 p.m. drawing.

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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