A 24-year-old Detroit man who won $4 million playing the Michigan Lottery’s $100,000,000 Diamonds instant game says that a recent $4 million Lottery winner inspired him to try to land his own big prize.

The lucky player, who chose to remain anonymous, won the big prize with a ticket he bought at the Marathon gas station, located at 5001 East Davison Street in Detroit.

“I’ve always liked playing instant games, but had never played a $30 ticket,” said the player. “When I saw a story last month about a guy in Lincoln Park winning $4 million on a $30 ticket, I started buying them.”

The player had such good luck playing the $30 games that when a man in line in front of him at the Marathon station asked what he should play, the answer was simple.

“I told him to play the $100,000,000 Diamonds game and he bought one ticket,” said the player. “When I got to the counter, I bought the very next ticket and scratched it right in the store.

“I went through the numbers one-by-one and saw I had matched the number 17. Next, I scratched the bar code at the bottom of the ticket so I could scan it to see what my prize was. When the machine said to see the clerk, I knew I had won something big.

“I scratched the prize under the number 17 and when I saw ‘$4MIL’ I tossed the ticket to the side because I didn’t think it could be real. I picked the ticket back up, scanned it again and got the same message, so I put the ticket in my pocket, got in my car and started to drive home.”

One his way home the player called his mother to tell her he had just won big playing the Lottery.

“At first, she would not believe me, no matter what I said to her,” said the player. “I kept telling her that I was serious and she just told me to ‘stop playing games with her.’ Once I got home with the ticket and started making arrangements to come to Lansing and collect my prize, she finally started to believe me.

“I’ve had a lot of sleepless nights since winning this money,” said the player. “I kept the ticket with me at all times while I waited for my new Social Security card to arrive so I could collect my prize.”

The player collected his winnings at Lottery headquarters in Lansing on Wednesday. He choose to take his prize as a one-time lump sum payment of about $2.5 million rather than an annuity. It is the second time in less than a month that a Lottery player has won $4 million on a Michigan Lottery instant game.

With his winnings, the player plans to help his mother with her finances, buy a new home, buy a new car, and take a trip with his two young children.

“I owe everything I have to my mother, so I am going to help her out. I want to take care of my family and everything else will take care of itself,” the player said.

Players have won more than $57.6 million playing $100,000,000 Diamonds, which launched in Sept. 2014. Each $30 ticket offers players a chance to win prizes ranging from $30 up to $4 million. More than $141.4 million in prizes remain, including three $4 million prizes, 233 $4,000 prizes, and 5,195 $1,000 prizes.

Lottery instant games may be purchased at 11,000 retailers across the state.