Free Press Staff

A Macomb County nurse who became an instant millionaire with a winning scratch-off Michigan lottery ticket says she is not quitting her job, but she will cut back her hours.

The woman bought the winning $4-million Mega Bucks instant game ticket at a Sunoco station on Hayes Road in Macomb Township, according to the Michigan Lottery Bureau, which says the winner has chosen to remain anonymous.

“I scratched the ticket in the store and I was floored,” the player said in a news release from the Lottery Bureau. “I screamed a few choice words that got the clerk’s attention and she asked what I’d won. She didn’t believe me until she looked at the ticket herself.”

After tucking the ticket away for safekeeping, the player shared the good news with her family and a few close friends, including her boss, according to the news release. She claimed her winnings on Monday, choosing to receive her winnings as a one-time lump sum payment of about $2.5 million rather than an annuity.

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With her winnings, she plans to pay her bills, give some money to family, buy a new car, pay for her daughter’s college tuition, and then invest the remainder, the Lottery Bureau said.

“I’ve been a nurse for 28 years, and I’ve always worked a lot of overtime at more than one job,” the nurse was quoted as saying. “We’ve been really short staffed lately, so when I told my boss she was afraid that I was going to retire. I told her that I am not planning to retire, but I am cutting my hours back.

“I’m not sure I’ve ever worked just a 40-hour week, so working just 40 hours at one job will feel like retirement to me!”

Players have won more than $28.5 million playing $4,000,000 Mega Bucks, which launched in February. Each $30 ticket offers players a chance to win prizes ranging from $30 to $4 million, the Lottery Bureau said. In 2016, Lottery players won nearly $817 million playing instant games.