Johnathan Walker:Michigan man wins $1.1 million on Mega Money Match lottery ticket

It couldn't be Johnathan Walkerright. That's what a Muskegon County, Michigan, man thought when he saw his Mega Money Match Fast Cash ticket from the Michigan Lottery matched a number to win the game's progressive jackpot worth $1.1 million.

However, it was right.

The 67-year-old man, who chose to remain anonymous, purchased the ticket July 26 at the Sherman Marathon located at 1768 West Sherman Road in Muskegon, according to the Michigan Lottery.

“I play Fast Cash when the jackpot gets above $500,000,” the man told the Michigan Lottery. “I recently started playing the Mega Money Match game and like the number aspect of the Fast Cash games.

“I looked the ticket over first to see if I matched any numbers and then went back to see the prize amounts. When I saw I matched the number 74 to win the jackpot, my first thought was: ‘Nah, this isn’t right.’ I took the ticket back to the store to scan it, and I saw the jackpot had reset to $10,000. When I scanned the ticket and saw I had to claim at the Lottery, I knew I had really won!”

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The man recently claimed his prize and plans to use the money to buy a new home and save the rest.

"Winning means a new house and no worries for me financially, and a more comfortable retirement," he said.

Lucky numbers, Quick Picks

Americans spend more on lottery tickets every year than on cigarettes or smartphones, some $91 billion in 2020 alone, according to historian Jonathan Cohen, author of  “For a Dollar and a Dream: State Lotteries in Modern America.”

The lottery is most popular among those who've been denied economic opportunities and see it as their best shot at the American dream.

"Studies indicate that the players who spend the largest percentage of their income on tickets and who play the most often are disproportionately male, lower income, less educated and non-white," Cohen wrote in the Washington Post.

Buying lottery tickets for less popular games?

If you play less popular games or daily games that are only available to state residents, you will have a higher probability of winning the jackpot but the prizes will be smaller, said Harvard statistics professor Mark Glickman. 

“You are never going to end up with a life-changing amount by playing smaller lotteries,” he said.

Can you spot patterns by studying winning lottery numbers?

Glickman also debunks the idea that studying past lottery number winners can help you spot patterns.

“There is no pattern,” he said. “It’s entirely random.”

Doc Louallen contributed to this report