A Genesee County man felt many emotions after winning $1 million playing the Michigan Lottery’s Red Hot Millions instant game.

The lucky player, who chose to remain anonymous, bought his winning ticket at the Shell gas station, located at 4141 West Vienna Road in Clio. Clio is about 20 miles north of Flint.

“I have been pretty lucky on the Red Hot Millions game, so I’ve continued playing it,” said the 50-year-old player. “I started scratching the ticket and saw the numbers ‘09’ and ‘19’ in the Hot Numbers section and thought: ‘I am going to win big on this ticket,’ because those are my lucky numbers.

“When I revealed a ‘19’ and ‘$1MIL’ symbol, I freaked out! My wife was at work, so I started driving to her office, but had to pull over to calm down because I was so worked up.”

The player visited Lottery headquarters recently to claim his prize. He chose to receive his prize as a one-time lump sum payment of about $634,000 rather than 30 annuity payments for the full amount.

With his winnings, he plans to purchase a new home and a new truck.

“I have so many emotions about winning $1 million, but relief is the biggest one. We can finally do the things we have been wanting to do,” said the player.

Players have won more than $32 million playing Red Hot Millions which launched in March. Each $10 ticket offers players a chance to win prizes ranging from $10 up to $1 million. More than $13 million in prizes remain, including one $1 million top prize and 30 $2,000 prizes.

Lottery instant games may be purchased at 10,500 retailers across the state.

In 2020, Lottery players won more than $1.5 billion playing instant games.