25-year-old asks mom to confirm her big Michigan lottery win. ‘Shocking and surreal’

A Michigan woman was scratching her crossword-style lottery ticket when she realized she might have won big.

“My dad always played Cashword tickets, and I like that they take a while to play,” the 25-year-old told Michigan Lottery officials. “When I scratched the ticket, I counted the words over and over to make sure I was reading it correctly.”

She was pretty sure she had revealed six red words — qualifying her for the Cashword Times 5 top prize of $300,000.

But even after counting the words again and again, she wasn’t sure if she could believe it, according to a July 25 news release from the Michigan Lottery.

“I called my mom to have her look at the ticket and confirm what I was seeing,” she said. “It was all shocking and surreal.”

She really had won $300,000, officials said.

The woman, who chose to remain anonymous, recently claimed her winnings.

She plans to use her prize money to buy a home, according to the release.

The winning $5 ticket was sold at Short Stop in Grand Rapids.

This story was originally published July 25, 2023 at 5:27 PM with the headline "25-year-old asks mom to confirm her big Michigan lottery win. ‘Shocking and surreal’."