87-year-old wins lottery jackpot, waits weeks to tell family. ‘I didn’t believe it’

Seeing wasn’t necessarily believing for an 87-year-old lottery player, who had difficulty convincing herself she was a big winner.

After weeks of keeping it a secret, the woman from Oakland County, Michigan, is now reaping the benefits of her jackpot win.

She won the top prize of $682,784 in the Jumbo Jackpot Slots Fast Cash game with a ticket she purchased Dec. 30 in Troy, Michigan Lottery officials said in a May 1 news release.

“Right after I bought the ticket, I looked it over and saw three jackpot symbols. I knew what I was seeing, but I didn’t believe it,” she told lottery officials. “I had a friend look the ticket over, and he confirmed I wasn’t seeing things and really did win the jackpot!”

Fast Cash is a series of instant-win games through the Michigan Lottery that feed into a jackpot, which grows with every ticket sold until there is a winner.

Odds of winning the top prize in the game are 1-in-500,000.

“I had a hard time believing I’d really won, so I kept it to myself for a while. After a few weeks, I finally told my family,” she told lottery officials. “They couldn’t believe that I was able to keep it a secret for so long and were ecstatic!”

With her winnings, the woman said she plans on completing home improvement projects and investing.

Troy is about a 25-mile drive northwest from Detroit.

This story was originally published May 1, 2024 at 9:48 AM with the headline "87-year-old wins lottery jackpot, waits weeks to tell family. ‘I didn’t believe it’."