Sometimes people get lucky unintentionally. That’s exactly what happened to one Oakland County Michigan lottery player who purchased a winning million-dollar lottery ticket without intending to do so.
The story goes like this…
According to a press release from the Michigan state lottery, on June 6, 2026, our lucky player stopped by a local gas station to fill up his car. He went inside the convenience store to buy his Fast Cash lottery tickets. It was his habit to buy tickets whenever the jackpot exceeded $700,000.
Normally, he would instruct the cashier to give him any of the Fast Cash games except for the Detroit Lions Rush for Riches game. He’d decided that game just wasn’t lucky for him.
On this day, though, our 68-year-old player forgot to tell the cashier not to give him the Detroit Lions game. Without giving it a glance, he paid for the ticket, folded it up and put it in his pocket.
When the wrong ticket turns out to be the RIGHT ticket
The next morning when our lottery player looked over the ticket, he saw that he had gotten a Detroit Lions Rush for Riches ticket. But more importantly, to his amazement, he realized he’d won the top prize of $1,051,702.
He exclaimed to his wife, “You’re not going to believe this!”
He handed the ticket to her. Once she realized what she was holding, she immediately began crying. It was an exciting and emotional day for both of them.
And it all happened because he forgot to tell the cashier the one simple instruction that would have prevented him from winning. Suffice it to say, this lucky lottery player now is a big believer in the Detroit Lions Rush for Riches game.
Our accidental lottery winner (who elected to remain anonymous) purchased his ticket in South Lyon at a Speedway gas station. He plans to spend his windfall wealth caring for his family.
How Michigan’s Fast Cash games work
In Michigan, you can get your Fast Cash game tickets by going to a lottery retailer that prints them from a terminal. The tickets range in price from $2 per play all the way to $30 per play.
The game is a progressive jackpot that you can win instantly. All you need to do is look at the ticket and see if your ticket matches a prize. Unlike a scratcher ticket, you don’t even need to scratch the ticket to find out if you’re a winner.
Because the game is progressive, the jackpot amount continues to grow as more players purchase tickets. The current jackpot amount prints on each ticket. Once someone wins the top prize, a new jackpot starts over and begins to grow.
The game allows players a chance to win a portion or the entire jackpot. For our lucky Michigan lottery winner, his ticket was worth the entire $1.05 million jackpot.
Additionally, the Fast Cash game gives players an opportunity to win many secondary prizes. The prize amounts vary depending on the kind of Fast Cash ticket you purchase. For example, a $10 Detroit Lions Rush for Riches ticket offers secondary prizes ranging from $10 up to $5,500.
A Jackpot Slots Millionaire ticket will set you back $30. The trade-off is a chance to win secondary prizes all the way up to $20,000, including the entire Fast Cash jackpot plus $1 million.
Michigan lottery fun facts…
Here are some Michigan lottery facts directly from the state’s report on where the money goes:
- 45 Michigan lottery players won $1 million or more in 2025.
- In 2025, the Michigan lottery paid approximately $2.9 billion in prizes to players.
- In 2021, the Michigan Lottery paid its largest jackpot in the state’s lottery history. The winning prize? An amazing $1.05 billion!