The mistake of a Michigan cashier has resulted in a $390,000 win for an Illinois man. The winner, Michael Sopejstal, was playing the Lucky for Life game but preferred to select the lump-sum payment.
Sopejstal, 60, said that he is a regular Lucky for Life player who would always buy a ticket for 10 or 20 draws when visiting the nearby state. However, the cashier at the GoLo gas station in New Buffalo made a mistake and instead of issuing a ticket for 10 draws, he accidentally printed a ticket with 10 lines for one draw.
The cashier offered to redo the ticket but Sopejstal was okay either way and decided to keep the 10-line ticket. When he checked his ticked after the drawing on September 17, he was surprised to see that he had won the $25,000 a year for life jackpot.
For reference, the winning numbers were 11, 15, 17, 24 and 48. If Sopejstal had picked the $25,000 a year option, he would have received $25,000 a year for 20 years.
Sopejstal admitted that at first, he wondered whether to take the $25,000 for life option or to grab the lump sum. In the end, he decided on the latter. In any case, he felt great that he had won and said that it was an amazing feeling.
Sopejstal concluded that his plan for the money is to go on a vacation and then save the rest of the sum.
Sopejstal Not the Only Recent Jackpot Winner
Speaking of jackpots, a Hoosier Lottery player recently won the $588,054 jackpot playing the lottery’s $5 Lighting Cash Fast Play game. As the name suggests, Lighting Cash is a quick progressive jackpot game that provides Hoosier Lottery players with regular opportunities to win jackpots.
Elsewhere, the Blue Yucca Trust, a group of South Dakotan players, won October’s $360 million Mega Millions jackpot after buying a ticket at a gas station in Texas. Similarly to Sopejstal, the trust chose the cash value and received $157,367,045 after taxes.
In the meantime, a Maine jackpot winner filed a lawsuit against the mother of his child to protect his identity. While Maine requires lottery winners’ identities to be revealed, the man had been able to keep his identity by collecting his winnings through a limited liability company called LaKoma Island Investments.