Patricia Giar of Freeport rarely buys any Lottery tickets, but luck was on her side this week. Giar claimed her $1 million Powerball prize from the November 28 drawing at Lottery Headquarters on Thursday, November 29.

Currently, the only plan Giar has for her money is to pay some bills.

The winning ticket was sold by East Paris Discount Liquor located at 2871 E Paris SE. in Kentwood.

East Paris Discount Liquor has sold four winning Powerball tickets with prizes of $10,000 or more since the game became available in Michigan in January of 2010. The lucky store happened to sell both Giar’s $1 million winner and another ticket that won $10,000 for the same Powerball drawing.

Wednesday’s Powerball jackpot, $587.5 million, was the largest ever in the game’s history and was shared with winning tickets, one in Missouri and one in Arizona. In addition to the two $1 million winning tickets, Michigan wins ranged from 169,099 $4 winners who matched just the Powerball to 18 $10,000 winners who matched four white balls plus the Powerball.

Over 97 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 2012, the contribution to schools was a record $778.4 million. Since its inception in 1972, the Lottery has contributed over $17 billion to education in Michigan.

For information on all Lottery games, please visit the Lottery’s Web site at www.michiganlottery.com.

“The Michigan Lottery. All across the state good things happen.”