Taking a stranger’s advice paid off for a Genesee County woman who won $4 million playing the Michigan Lottery’s Ultimate Millions instant game.

The lucky 54-year-old player, who chose to remain anonymous, bought her winning ticket at the Mobil gas station, located at 9490 South Saginaw Road in Grand Blanc.

“My husband and I stopped to get gas and went into the gas station to pay,” said the player. “While we were in line, someone in the store came up to us and said: ‘You should purchase a $30 Lottery ticket, I bet you will win $4 million.’ We thought about it for a moment and then decided to purchase an Ultimate Millions ticket.

“We scratched the ticket when we got in the car and were in shock when we saw we’d won $4 million. We thought we were missing something and that there was no way we had actually won. We decided to put the ticket away and look it over again when we got home to confirm what we were seeing.”

The player visited Lottery headquarters recently to claim her prize. She chose to receive her prize as a one-time lump sum payment of about $2.5 million rather than 30 annuity payments for the full amount. With her winnings, she plans to pay bills and then save the remainder.

Players have won more than $128 million playing Ultimate Millions which launched in September 2020. Each $30 ticket offers players a chance to win prizes ranging from $30 up to $4 million. More than $11 million in prizes remain, including 3 $10,000 prizes and 43 $3,000 prizes.

In 2021, Lottery players won more than $1.8 billion playing instant games.