By Jessica Mathews / news@whmi.com


A Highland Township man had a sleepless night after winning the Fantasy 5 jackpot from the Michigan Lottery.

The player, who chose to remain anonymous, matched the Fantasy 5 numbers in the December 23rd drawing to win the big prize: 07-23-33-36-39. He won $699,170 and bought his winning ticket at Hickory Ridge Market, located at 3255 West Highland Road in Highland Township.

The player said he’s been playing the same Fantasy 5 numbers for about 10 years and every night after the drawing, he checks the numbers on the Lottery app. On the night he won, the player said he checked the numbers as usual and recognized them but decided to wait to scan his ticket until the next day because he knew he wouldn’t be able to sleep if he had actually won.

The player said he ended up waking up at 2:30am and couldn’t wait any longer, so he scanned his ticket on the app. When the scanner confirmed his prize, the player said he couldn’t believe it and immediately started yelling for his wife to tell her the good news.

The lucky 69-year-old player recently visited Lottery headquarters to claim the big prize. With his winnings, he plans to complete home renovations and purchase a new car.