A spontaneous decision to buy a lottery ticket dramatically changed the life of Matthew Russell of Fenton, Genesee County, who won $25,000 for life in the Michigan Lottery’s Lucky For Life game.

Russell’s winning ticket matched the five white balls in the June 30 drawing, numbers 06, 09, 12, 24 and 32. He purchased his ticket from Hartland AC Holdings LLC, 10440 Highland Road in Hartland, about 50 miles east of Lansing.

Reflecting on his win, Russell said, “I wasn’t planning on playing Lucky for Life that day, but I was driving past the store on the way home and decided at the last minute to stop and buy a ticket.” The next day, when he checked the numbers and realized his win, he exclaimed, “Sure!” and described how numb he felt, a feeling that lasted for weeks.

Commenting on the win, Lottery Commissioner Suzanna Shkreli said, “One of the things that makes playing the lottery so much fun is that you never know when or where you might be able to buy a big prize.” She congratulated Russell on his life-changing win.

At 57, Russell recently visited lottery headquarters to claim his winnings. He opted for a lump sum payout of $390,000 rather than the annuity option. He plans to use his winnings as a financial cushion for his upcoming retirement, ensuring a secure and comfortable future.

An online lottery player hit the jackpot by matching all five numbers in the Lucky Day Lotto noon drawing on Sunday, August 4, to take home a top prize of $900,000. The winning numbers in the drawing were 8, 14, 20, 24 and 27.

The Illinois Lottery announced that in addition to the jackpot winner, over 24,000 other Lucky Day Lotto tickets won in the same drawing, resulting in total prizes of over $963,000 being distributed among Illinois players.

Winners have one year from the date of the drawing to claim their prizes. The Illinois Lottery recommends that all winners sign the back of their tickets and keep them safe until they are ready to claim their winnings.

Lucky Day Lotto is exclusive to Illinois. Drawings are held twice daily at 12:40 p.m. and 9:22 p.m. Tickets can be purchased at retail locations, online, or through the Illinois Lottery app. To purchase tickets online or for more information, players can visit IllinoisLottery.com.

NORFOLK, VA – Norfolk resident Teddy Breheim initially thought he had won a modest $100 on his Virginia Lottery scratch-off ticket, only to later discover that the ticket was actually worth a whopping $100,000.

Breheim purchased his $326,000,000 Fortune scratch-off ticket at Rite Aid at 2040 Atlantic Avenue in Chesapeake. After scratching off the ticket, he casually put it in his pocket, underestimating its true value.

Only later did he realize that the ticket secured him the game’s second-largest prize. The game numbered 2150 offers a top prize of $5 million, and there is another $100,000 prize and a $5 million prize up for grabs. The odds of winning the $5 million prize are 1 in 2,774,400, while the overall odds of winning any prize are 1 in 3.43.

Virginia Lottery profits significantly benefit K-12 education in the state. Last fiscal year, Norfolk alone received over $28.2 million in lottery funds, contributing to the $867 million raised statewide, which accounted for about 10 percent of Virginia’s total K-12 school budget.