Genesee County player’s winning ticket

Two lucky Michigan Lottery players – one from Genesee County and one from Saginaw County have claimed their share of a $627,835 Fantasy 5 jackpot.

The lucky players, who chose to remain anonymous, matched the numbers drawn Jan. 9 to win their big prizes: 02-04-05-09-26.

The Genesee County player bought his winning ticket at Pineview Shell, located at 5520 North Genesee Road in Flint.

“I play Fantasy 5 every single day,” said the 68-year-old player. “I checked the winning numbers online after the drawing and thought: ‘Wait a second, those look like my numbers.’ I scanned my ticket on the Lottery app and found out I’d won $313,917! This prize is going to make retirement much easier.”

The Saginaw County player bought her winning ticket online at MichiganLottery.com.

“Every once in awhile I will buy a few Fantasy 5 tickets online,” said the 60-year-old player. “The morning after the drawing, I was sitting in the Target parking lot after shopping and saw an email from the Michigan Lottery telling me to log in and claim my prize. It was different from the emails I usually get saying I’ve won a few bucks, so I logged into my account to see what I’d won. When I saw a balance of $313,917, I just kept yelling: ‘Oh my gosh’ over and over again. It was unreal!”

Both players recently visited Lottery headquarters to claim their prizes. Each player received half of the jackpot: $313,917.

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. Players may win prizes in the regular nightly drawing, the Double Play drawing, or both. 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.