Woman Wins $25,000 a Year for Life on First Try of Lottery Game
$5,000 Welcome Bonus
A Michigan woman is “lucky for life” after hitting the jackpot on a winning lottery ticket.
While making her Powerball ticket purchase online, Shayla Kauflin decided to buy five Lucky For Life lottery tickets for the Oct. 9 drawing as well, according to the Michigan Lottery.
“This ticket was the very first Lucky For Life ticket I have ever bought,” she said, per the Michigan Lottery. “When I was purchasing my Powerball tickets online, I saw the Lucky For Life game listed and thought: ‘Why not?’ and bought $10 worth of tickets.”
When she checked in to find out the winning numbers the following day, Kauflin was floored to find out that she was, indeed, fortunate.
“I logged in to my lottery account the next day to see if I’d won anything, and when I saw $390,000 pending, I started screaming, crying, and freaking out!” the 39-year-old told lottery officials. “I called my husband to tell him how much I’d won, and he was concerned at first because he thought something was wrong.”
The game’s grand prize is $25,000 for 20 years — “or life, whichever is greater,” the lottery says — but Kauflin elected to receive a lump sum payment of $390,000.
She recently claimed her prize at the lottery's headquarters. Kauflin told officials there she planned to take her family on a Disney vacation and that she would also invest the money.
PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
“Winning is indescribable,” Kauflin said. “It feels like the weight of the world has been taken off my shoulders. It may not be enough money to change the world, but it’s enough money to change my world.”
It’s not the first time this year that a Michigan resident has won the Lucky For Life game under decidedly lucky circumstances.
In May, Ronald Durham matched the five white balls after purchasing the winning ticket at a 7-Eleven on Fort Street in Southgate. He told lottery officials that he regularly plays the game he won.
“I play Lucky for Life every day and I always check the numbers online after the drawing,” Durham said, per a Michigan Lottery news release. “I checked the winning numbers as usual in the morning, and when I saw I won $25,000 a year for life, I was shocked!”
Durham has hit a lottery jackpot before. In 2014, the southeast Michigan resident won $250,000 while playing the KENO! Game.
