Man wins $25,000 a year for life thanks to lottery printing error

Man wins ,000 a year for life thanks to lottery printing error

An Illinois man is Lucky for Life after playing the Michigan Lottery two months ago.

Lottery officials say that Michael Sopejstal, 60, purchased the winning ticket at a GoLo station in New Buffalo. That ticket matched the numbers drawn on Sept. 17.

Those numbers were: 11-15-17-24-48.

“I come to Michigan every few weeks to eat at my favorite restaurant and I always get a Lucky for Life ticket for 10 or 20 draws while I’m here,” said Sopejstal. “I asked the retailer for a ticket for 10 draws, but he accidentally printed a ticket with 10 lines for one draw, but I told him I still wanted it. … I checked my ticket one morning and saw that I had won $25,000 a year for life. I immediately started thinking about all the things I could do with the money and whether I wanted to take the lump sum or annuity option. It was an amazing feeling!”

Sopejstal opted to receive the $390,000 lump-sum payment instead of collecting $25,000 per year. He intends to use his winnings to travel and pocket what’s left.

According to the Michigan Lottery, you can play Lucky For Life for just $2 and get a shot at winning prizes from $3 to a lifetime of cash. 

This story was originally published at Scripps News Grand Rapids.