‘An Amazing Feeling!’: Illinois Man Wins $25K a Year for Life After Lucky Mistake

Lotto tickets are covered with one hyndred dollar bills.
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Amy Furr

An Illinois man will be enjoying a huge prize for years to come thanks to someone else’s tiny mistake.

Sixty-year-old Michael Sopejstal made the win of a lifetime when his Lucky for Life ticket matched five white balls drawn on September 17, the Michigan Lottery Connect reported Tuesday.

When he bought the winning ticket inside the GoLo gas station in New Buffalo, he had no idea everything was about to change.

He said he travels to Michigan every few weeks to enjoy a meal at his favorite restaurant and always buys one of the tickets.

Sopejstal explained, “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!” he added.

An image shows the winning ticket that has brought so much excitement:

When he went to claim the prize, he chose to receive it as one lump sum of $390,000 instead of the $25,000 a year for 20 years or life.

Now, he plans to take some trips and save the rest for later.

Breitbart News reported November 10 that a newlywed Michigan man was shocked after buying a $1 million winning lottery ticket for himself and his bride.

“I bought the ticket the day after my wedding and gave it to my wife to scratch,” he said, adding, “When she revealed the ‘$1 MIL’ prize amount, we were in disbelief.”

“We kept reading the instructions over and over again to make sure we really won. It was an exciting couple of days for us!” he concluded.

In August, a truck driver in Massachusetts won $1 million lottery a few days after he told his boss he was retiring, according to Breitbart News.

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