“I was on my way out of the store because they were closing soon, and I stopped at the lottery machine to buy a few tickets before I left,” said the lucky 58-year-old player, who chose to remain anonymous. “A worker walked up to the machine to shut it down, so I quickly bought a few tickets, scratched the barcodes, and then scanned them at the machine to check them.
“When one came back with a message to file a claim, the worker told me I must have won big, so I got out my phone and scanned it using the Michigan Lottery app. As soon as I scanned it, she asked what was wrong because of the look on my face, so I told her I’d won $50,000. I looked down at my phone again and that’s when I realized it actually said $500,000! I had to go sit in my car and try to calm down because I was so excited and worked up that I couldn’t drive home. It was crazy!”
The player bought his winning ticket at the Kroger store, located at 39950 West 14 Mile Road in Commerce Township. He recently visited Lottery headquarters to claim the big prize. With his winnings, he plans to pay bills and then save the remainder.
“Winning $500,000 is a huge relief. I’m going to pay off every single bill I have and then decide what to do with the rest later,” the player said.
Players have won more than $2 million playing Emerald 7s, which launched this month. Each $5 ticket offers players a chance to win prizes ranging from $5 up to $500,000. More than $19 million in prizes remain, including two $500,000 top prizes and 20 $1,000 prizes.
In 2025, Lottery players won more than $1.7 billion playing instant games.
Lottery instant games may be purchased at retailers across the state.