Young player asks parents for help on how to play and wins six-figure prize
By Kate Northrop
SAGINAW, Mich. — A Michigan man who has never played the lottery before won $500,000 on his first try after having been inspired by his mother to play.
Hitting 21 years of age is a big milestone for anyone, but for one new lottery player, claiming a $500,000 prize on his 21st birthday made it a day he'll remember forever.
A Livingston County man, who chose to remain anonymous, won $500,000 on his first lottery ticket ever, a $5 "Wild Side" scratch-off ticket he bought at the Fast Lane Convenience Store on State Street in Saginaw.
He had taken inspiration from his mother, who he had watched play the lottery before. Just to reassure himself, he waited to scratch it off until he got home to show his parents the ticket.
"I had never played the lottery before, but I've seen my mom purchase tickets now and again, so I decided to buy one while I was at the store," the player told the Michigan Lottery. "I didn't know how to play the game, so I took the ticket home and had my parents walk me through it. When we revealed the $500,000 prize, we didn't think it was real."
The prize was absolutely real, and it will go a long way to give a financial boost to this 21-year-old's budding life in adulthood.
"We went to the Lottery office in Saginaw to have them look at the ticket," he recalled. "When they confirmed it really was a $500,000 winner, we were in disbelief. I knew right then that this money was about to change my life. What makes it even more exciting is that today is my 21st birthday!"
The student plans on using the winnings to study abroad, pay for his tuition, and will save the rest.
He also claimed the first of three top prizes of $500,000 in the $5 "Wild Side" instant game. There are also six out of ten second-tier prizes of $2,500 and 262 out of 445 third-tier prizes of $500 left to claim.
The overall odds of winning any prize are 1 in 4.08.
Good for him, give mom a hug and take her for a nice dinner.
Mother knows best!
I need to put myself in a state of oblivion, perhaps it'll work
Story seems a little far fetched to me. 21 year old needs instructions on how to play a scratch ticket and takes it home to mommy and daddy so they can walk him through it. Then at age 21 which he should be in his 3rd year of college here all of a sudden decides he wants to study overseas. Had he applied to or thought of this previously. Yet, he is not smart enough to figure out how to play a scratch ticket. I am scratching my head over this one.
He might not know how to scratch off a scratch off but he is lucky about picking winners. Congrats to him.
What's so far fetched about it?
The kid just turned 21 and bought a ticket on his birthday.
There are a lot of different ways to win on scratchoff tickets.
Some you just have to match 1 of your 10-20 lucky numbers up top that you scratch to 1 of those in the grid below to win a prize.
With others, you have to match 3 of the same symbols of a kind to win a prize.
He just wanted clarification of the rules for that ticket.
They're all different.
Ever heard of beginner's luck?
He walked into the right store at the right time and selected a ticket out of 70 different choices on the wall behind the clerk. Yes, luck was all it was. Congratulations though, are not in order for doing that.
I have heard about beginners luck. This kid waits until he is 21 so he can officially now do adult things that are legal for adults. I'm 21 now he says and so I can now purchase a lottery ticket. What a country. Most kids would go to a package store or a bar when they turned 21. Not him. I am going to buy a lottery ticket and take it home and mommy and daddy can show me how to scratch it. Even though he had seen them do it multiple times. There is just something off about this. Most do not even want their lottery hit known but these people seem to be going out of their way with a preposterous story to get it out there.
LOL! 😂
To be fair, billybucks, a lot of the scratchoffs are hella confusing. And maybe he is just a mama's boy.
I agree 110%. He wanted to do his due diligence first and checked with experienced people first.
Just because someone had possibly previously scratched a ticket near him, it did not make him knowledgeable. My grandmother used to play powerball many years ago and I did not play the lottery then so really knew nothing about it at that time. If you are not interested in something, one tends to not pay attention to details. It is similar to ignoring ranting delusional attention seeking fools in internet forums. Lol lol
As a man who watches reruns of "Leave It To Beaver", on one episode, Beaver won a bicycle. He too was a lucky mama's boy!
It might be just my impression (because I don't play scratchers that often) but it seems like the bigger the prizes, the more convoluted the scratch game is. Even the physical card itself is larger when the prizes are larger.
They make you work for it.