Michigan woman thought she won $500. Two days later, she realized she'd won $1 million

Tanya Wildt | Detroit Free Press

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It took one Michigan lottery player three looks before she realized she was a million-dollar winner, according to the Michigan Lottery.

The 60-year-old St. Clair County woman thought she had won $500 on a Super Bonus Cashword instant game. Two days later, she realized it was worth $1 million.

The game is set up like a crossword puzzle and the woman thought she'd scratched off seven words, equaling a $500 prize. However, when she returned to the Speedway gas station where she had purchased it, located at 2611 Roavenswood Road in Port Huron, the clerk said it couldn't be cashed.

The woman took the ticket home and looked at it again, finding two more words she had missed on her initial scratch — bumping her prize to $5,000.

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The next day, she looked at the ticket a final time and found another word she had missed, bringing her total to 10 words worth $1,000,000 — the game's top prize.

"I thought: 'This can’t be real!' So, I called the Lottery and when the woman on the phone confirmed I’d won $1 million, I started shaking so much I dropped the phone," the woman told the Michigan Lottery.

The woman opted for a one-time lump sum payment of about $634,000 that she'll use to pay debts, travel and save.

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