LANSING, September 15, 2008 – Patrick Thelen is a lucky lottery player! The Muskegon man matched four white ball numbers and the gold Mega ball number on the August 26 Mega Millions drawing and won a $10,000 prize!

Thelen was in disbelief when he first checked his numbers online and had to recheck them three times before he realized he had won. The regular Lottery player plans on paying bills and having some fun with his prize money.

The lucky winning ticket was purchased at the A & A Mini Mart, 3720 W. Giles Rd., in Muskegon.

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.

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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