A reroute due to road construction led a St. Clair County woman to a new store and a $1 million prize playing the Michigan Lottery’s King Cashword instant game.

“I play King Cashword all the time,” said the lucky 70-year-old player, who chose to remain anonymous. “Almost every day I walk to the store down the road to get a King Cashword ticket, but this particular day it was too hot to go for a walk, so I decided to drive instead. There was a lot of construction going on near the store that made it hard to get to, so I ended up going to a different store in the area that I’d never been to.

“Later that night, I scratched the ticket and couldn’t believe what I was seeing when I saw the $1 million prize. I called my son and he told me to sit down because he thought I was going to have a heart attack! I had to go to the store to scan my ticket because I needed to see proof that this was real. Winning is amazing and life changing.”

The player bought her winning ticket at Speedy Q Markets, located at 2020 Water Street in Port Huron. She recently visited Lottery headquarters to claim the big prize. She chose to receive her prize as a one-time lump sum payment of about $693,000 rather than annuity payments for the full amount. With her winnings, she plans to buy a new house and a new car.

Players have won more than $47 million playing King Cashword, which launched in June 2025. Each $20 ticket offers players a chance to win prizes ranging from $20 up to $1 million. More than $24 million in prizes remain, including one $1 million top prize, 12 $5,000 prizes, and 233 $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.