A Charlevoix County woman thought the lottery scanner at the store was broken until she found out she’d won $100,000 a year for life playing the Michigan Lottery’s Millionaire For Life™ game.

The lucky 66-year-old player, who chose to remain anonymous, matched the five white balls – 03-15-16-24-28 – in the May 21 drawing to win the big prize. The winning ticket was bought at the Mancelona North EZ Mart, located at 8150 US Highway 131 Northeast in Mancelona. Mancelona is about 35 miles northeast of Traverse City.

“I’ve been playing Millionaire For Life on and off since the game started earlier this year,” said the player. “I had an urge to buy a ticket while I was out and about one day, so I went to the closest store and bought one.

“The next day I scanned my ticket at a store, and a message came up to contact the lottery office. I thought the scanner was broken, so I went out to my car to check the numbers on MichiganLottery.com. I saw a winning ticket was purchased in Mancelona and then I saw I’d matched all five numbers. I yelled: ‘I just won $2.2 million!’ and did a happy dance in my car.”

The player recently visited Lottery headquarters to claim the big prize. She chose to receive her prize as a one-time lump sum payment of $2.2 million rather than payments of $100,000 a year for 20 years or life, whichever is greater. With her winnings, she plans to buy a house, a car, and a boat.

This prize marks the first time a Michigan Lottery player has won the second-tier prize of $100,000 a year for life since the Millionaire For Life game launched on Feb. 22.

For just $5 per play, Millionaire For Life gives players the chance to win prizes ranging from $8 up to a lifetime of cash. To win the game’s top prize of $1 million a year for life, players must match all five white ball numbers ranging from 1 to 58 and the Millionaire Ball number ranging from 1 to 5. Players who match all five white ball numbers, but not the Millionaire Ball, will win $100,000 a year for life. Drawings take place daily at 11:15 p.m. Tickets may be purchased at Lottery retailers across the state and online at MichiganLottery.com.