A 26-year-old man from Michigan has struck gold to the tune of half a million dollars (nearly Rs 4.2 crore), all thanks to a peculiar "sign" he claims to have received from his movie star doppelganger. Sounds strange, right? Well, here's how it all transpired.
The young man, who preferred to remain anonymous, recounted watching a movie where the protagonist, who looks like him, hits the jackpot on a lottery ticket. Intrigued by this cinematic coincidence, he decided to try his luck with a lottery ticket of his own, Fox reported.
He told the Michigan Lottery website, "I was watching a movie and the main character won big on a lottery ticket. The main character was my lookalike, so I took it as a sign to go buy a ticket".
Later, the man went and bought a $5 lucky no. 13 ticket from a food mart. According to the Michigan Lottery website, the lucky no. 13 scratch-off games were introduced in April last year. Currently, there remains one top prize of $500,000 yet to be claimed, along with over $7 million in additional prizes from the game.
The 26-year-old man said, "Later that day, I was with some friends and scratched the ticket. When I saw I'd won $500,000, I couldn't believe my eyes!" To confirm his win before sharing the news, he went to the bathroom to cross-examine the ticket again.
The man, then, convinced of his win, immediately called his girlfriend to share the life-changing news. "I feel so blessed to win this amount of money," he said. He said he would use the money to go on vacation and would spend it on his children.
Started in 1972, the Michigan Lottery has been an important contributor to the state's education system. According to information from the Michigan Lottery website, proceeds from ticket sales go directly to the Michigan School Aid Fund. In FY23, the Michigan Lottery made a contribution of over $1.3 billion to the Michigan School Aid Fund.
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