$60 million lottery winner from Michigan won with the first ticket he ever bought
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While the wait continues for the winner of last month’s $2.04 billion Powerball win to come forward, Fox 2 News managed to track down a lottery winner who had won $60 million in 2000.
His interview is an interesting look into how big jackpot winners handle their huge windfall.
But there’s something even more surprising. It was the first ticket he had ever bought.
Jessica Dupnack from Fox 2 managed to talk to the former lottery winner who spoke on the condition he remained anonymous.
He talked to Jessica from his oceanside mansion in Florida. She found out that is his winter home.
“He's got a big house here in Michigan, where he won 22 years ago.”
She added that the former lottery winner from Detroit, ‘who we’ll call Steve,’ won the record-breaking lottery with just a few tickets he bought on the day.
The winner then surprised her by saying, “That was the first ticket I ever bought.”
Back then Mega Millions was known as The Big Game, and his take-home amount was a lump sum of $60 million.
The man says he remembers the day of buying the ticket and his purchases.
“$100 bill, that's all I had,” he remembered. “And then I asked the guy to give me the change in lotto tickets.”
The winner says he found out that he won when he saw the clerk who sold him the ticket had appeared on the local news.
After that, he basically went into hiding. “It got insane worldwide media attention.”
He likes to stay under the radar now, but at the time of the win, he had to come forward.
The government took him and his family into protective custody. They drove the family up to Frankenmuth, Michigan, and kept them away from the publicity for several days.
Is he enjoying the benefits of his win?
“The whole thing has its ups for sure,” he replied. “My wife got a substantial amount of money.”
“In that first year alone, I gave away about $10 million.”
“The biggest splurge I had was a 55 ft yacht,” he recounted.
But there were downsides, he said. Like the time 15 years ago when someone broke into his house, beat him up, and robbed him at gunpoint.
