Lottery winner ‘didn’t want to cause a scene’ in Michigan — so he screamed in his car

A 54-year-old man said he decided to buy a few Fantasy 5 lottery tickets in Michigan when he noticed the jackpot prize creep past $500,000.

A few days after the drawing, he went to the store and began scanning his lottery tickets, according to a Jan. 5 news release from Michigan Lottery officials.

“ ... one came up with a message to file a claim, so I assumed the scanner malfunctioned and asked the clerk to give me a printout of the winning numbers,” he said in the news release.

But the machine was not malfunctioning. One of his Fantasy 5 tickets matched the numbers from the Nov. 30 drawing: 14-28-30-35-39, winning him the jackpot.

“When I looked the winning numbers over and saw I’d all matched five, I tried to remain calm because I didn’t want to cause a scene in the store,” the Oakland County man said. He contained himself until he got back to his car.

“Once I got in my car, I started shouting with excitement,” he said. “It was such a great feeling.”

The man won the $557,134 jackpot, officials said, and he recently claimed his cash prize.

After taxes, the lottery winner took home about $400,000. He plans to pay bills but otherwise save his winnings, according to the release.

The winning ticket was sold at a Marathon gas station in Waterford, about 30 miles northwest of downtown Detroit.

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