A Kent County man turned the last $3 in his wallet into $279,663 by winning a Fantasy 5 jackpot from the Michigan Lottery.

The lucky player, who chose to remain anonymous, matched the Fantasy 5 numbers drawn June 11 – 07-08-12-17-28 – to win the jackpot. He bought his winning ticket at the Meijer gas station, located at 550 Baldwin Street in Jenison.

“Whenever I stop for gas, I will use whatever cash I have left to buy a few tickets,” said the 69-year-old player. “When I bought my gas that day I had $3, so I ended up with three Fantasy 5 Easy Picks.

“I checked my tickets online a couple of days later and I couldn’t believe I’d won. I called for my wife to come look at the computer with me and she was just as stunned. We both kept saying: ‘We never win anything!’”

The lucky player visited Lottery headquarters Wednesday to claim the big prize. With his winnings, he plans to buy his wife a new vehicle, pay his bills, and then save the remainder.

“It’s exciting to win. Suddenly, we have all of this money and it changes your outlook on things. We’re both retired, so it’s nice to pay off our debts and have a clean slate,” the player said.

Each Fantasy 5 play is only $1. For an additional $1 per play, EZmatch may be added to a Fantasy 5 ticket, giving players a chance to win up to $500 instantly. Fantasy 5 players select five numbers from one to 39. Players who match all five Fantasy 5 numbers drawn win a jackpot that starts at $100,000. Fantasy 5 drawings are held seven days a week at 7:29 p.m. Tonight’s Fantasy 5 jackpot is $153,000.