(WBBM NEWSRADIO) — Every month, Illinois resident Michael Sopejstal visits his favorite restaurant in Michigan — and every month, he buys a Lucky for Life lottery ticket.
His most recent trip, though, was far from usual, after a clerk at a GoLo gas station made a mistake.
Instead of printing a ticket for 10 draws, like Sopejstal wanted, the employee accidentally printed a ticket with 10 lines for a single draw. Sopejstal told the clerk he’d still take the ticket.
Call it a flub; call it fate; but the error resulted in Sopejsta winning $25,000 per year for life.
He ended up taking the lump sum of $390,000. With his winnings, Michigan Lottery officials said he plans to travel and then save the remainder.
Sopejstal’s odds of winning were one in more than 1.8 million.
The mistake led to Sopejstal winning the game’s second top prize — $25,000 for life. His ticket matched the five white balls drawn on Sept. 17: 11, 15, 17, 24 and 48.
“I checked my ticket one morning and saw that I had won $25,000 a year for life,” he told WJTV. “I immediately started thinking about all the things I could do with the money and whether I wanted to take the lump sum or annuity option. It was an amazing feeling!”