Cheboygan woman turns free credit from Michigan Lottery into $169,674 Fantasy 5 win
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LANSING, MI -- A Cheboygan woman who kept rolling over her winnings ended up with a $169,674 Fantasy 5 jackpot recently and it cost her none of her own money to do so. Tammie Pelton, 52, matched all five numbers drawn -- 06-11-24-29-35 -- for the Fantasy 5 drawing held on Sept. 23 to win her prize, but it all started with a free prize she won from the Michigan Lottery.
“I played the Daily Spin to Win game and won a bonus credit, so I used the bonus credit to play a game online and won $100,” said Pelton. “I used some of my winnings to purchase Powerball tickets and then saw the Fantasy 5 jackpot was over $150,000, so I purchased a few Fantasy 5 tickets too.”
The Daily Spin to Win game is a free contest open daily to players who have a registered account with the Michigan Lottery online. Players can win entries into drawings to win a prize, or as in Pelton’s case, a credit that can be used to play games in store or online.
“When I logged in to my account a few days later, a pop-up came up saying I’d won a $169,674 Fantasy 5 jackpot prize. I had to triple check my account balance to make sure I wasn’t seeing things! I woke up my husband and showed him the message. He was confused and asked who won, so I yelled: ‘We did!’ We are still having a hard time believing this is real.”
While visiting Lottery headquarters in Lansing to claim her prize, Pelton said she plans on using the money to take a trip and invest.
For the latest on Michigan Lottery, check out the official Michigan Lottery site, which also offers more information on instant tickets, raffles and other lottery games.
The last players from Michigan to win a Mega Millions or Powerball jackpot is the Wolverine FLL lottery club which claimed a $1.05 billion jackpot in March 2021. With their winnings, the group plans to give back to the community.
And while they were lucky winners, it’s smart for players to check their tickets immediately as a winner worth $1 million sold in Warren in 2021 went unclaimed. The money instead went to the state’s School Aid Fund.
