Gary Halama and Michigan Lottery Acting Commissioner, Jessica Weare.

A Wayne County man and his wife “freaked out” after winning a $288,903 Fantasy 5 jackpot from the Michigan Lottery.

Gary Halama, 73, matched the winning Fantasy 5 numbers on July 21 – 21-23-25-34-38 – to win the big prize. He bought his winning ticket at the 7-Eleven, located at 28205 Ford Road in Garden City. Halama was one of two winners of the $577,806 July 21 jackpot. Each winner received $288,903.

“We don’t play the Lottery all that often, but my wife had gotten some tickets for her birthday earlier in the month,” said Halama. “When we cashed them in, I saw how high the Fantasy 5 jackpot was, so we decided to use some of the winnings to buy five easy picks.

“We got home and had some family over, so we put the ticket aside. Later that night, we were looking at the numbers and thought they were all pretty high so we figured no one would win. When we checked our ticket and saw all five numbers, we freaked out! It was so hard to believe we had really won this huge jackpot!”

Winning Ticket

Halama recently visited Lottery headquarters to claim the big prize. With his winnings, he plans to invest in his retirement.

“Winning and having extra in our retirement account certainly does put our minds at ease and lets us enjoy retirement more,” said Halama.

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. For an additional $1 per play, Double Play may be added to a Fantasy 5 ticket, giving players a second chance to win up to $110,000 in the nightly Double Play drawing. 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. Tickets may be purchased at a retailer or online at MichiganLottery.com until 7:08 p.m. on the day of the drawing.