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Michigan store's scratch-off shortage earns lottery player $1 million

Bonnie Hitchings won $1 million from a scratch-off lottery ticket she bought because a store was sold out of her preferred games. Photo courtesy of the Michigan Lottery
Bonnie Hitchings won $1 million from a scratch-off lottery ticket she bought because a store was sold out of her preferred games. Photo courtesy of the Michigan Lottery

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Nov. 27 (UPI) -- A Michigan woman found a store being sold out of her favorite scratch-off lottery tickets to be a lucky turn of events when she scored a $1 million prize.

Bonnie Hitchings, 67, of Johannesburg, told Michigan Lottery officials she stopped at the Shell gas station on West Main Street in Gaylord to buy her lottery tickets.

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"I stopped at the gas station to buy a few Daily 4 tickets," Hitchings said. "When I was checking out, I asked for the Win $100, $200 or $500 ticket, but they were sold out, so I got a Cashword Times 20 ticket instead."

Hitchings scratched off the barcode of her backup choice ticket and scanned it to see if it was a winner.

"I kept getting a message to file a claim at the lottery office, so I assumed their scanner was broken and went out to my car to scan it on the lottery app," she recalled.

The app had a surprise in store for Hitchings.

"When I scanned the ticket, confetti came up on the screen with a message saying I won $1 million. I went back into the store to show the worker and everyone in the store was so excited," she said. "Everywhere I go lately I have people stopping to congratulate me. It's a crazy and exciting feeling!"

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Hitchings said she plans to use her winnings to take a trip to Alaska and invest.

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