Talk about a pit stop payoff.
A Michigan man turned a modest $20 win into a seven-figure score after a late-night gas station run spiraled into a full-blown jackpot frenzy.
The 31-year-old — who’s opting to stay anonymous — stopped by a Wesco station in Kent County to cash in a small winning ticket, never imagining he’d walk out hundreds of thousands richer.
“I stopped at the Wesco station late one night to cash in a winning Lottery ticket,” he said, as per a Michigan Lottery news release.
The payout? Just $20.
But instead of pocketing the whole thing, the mystery man decided to press his luck — and it paid off big time.
“I won $20, so I put $10 in my pocket and bought one Electric 100s ticket,” he said.
That spur-of-the-moment gamble turned into the ultimate glow-up.
“I scratched the ticket in the store, and when I saw that I had won $1 million, I started screaming!” he said.
He added, “It’s a good thing no one else was in the store, because they would have thought I was going insane!”
The winning ticket was purchased at a Wesco gas station on North Main Street in Cedar Springs, about 20 miles north of Grand Rapids — proving lightning really can strike in the most ordinary places.
The newly minted millionaire recently claimed his prize at Michigan Lottery headquarters, opting for a lump sum payout of about $693,000 instead of annuity payments.
As for what’s next? He’s keeping it simple.
The winner plans to buy a new car and stash the rest — a practical move for someone who just hit the kind of jackpot most people only dream about.
Still, the magnitude of the moment hasn’t been lost on him.
“Winning $1 million is life-changing and means I can do what I want to do,” he said.
Not a bad return on a $10 whim.
But lottery luck wasn’t limited to Michigan.
As previously reported by The Post, down in South Carolina, a woman struck it rich this week after buying four $5 scratch-off tickets in a single day — one worth a whopping $200,000.
“It was exciting,” she told South Carolina Education Lottery officials.
She broke even on the first two tickets, won $5 on the third, and then hit the big one on a My Money Maker ticket — the last jackpot ticket available for that game, lottery officials said.
“When it sinks in, I can let you know how it feels,” she told WYFF TV.
The woman, whose identity has not been released, played her tickets in the car at the store’s parking lot. She ran back inside to share the news the moment she realized she’d won.
“It’s a friendly place, that’s why I stop there,” she said, as staff cheered and congratulated her. The Corner Pantry also collected a $2,000 commission for selling the winning ticket.
With a one-in-9,000 chance of hitting the My Money Maker jackpot, she plans to buy a house with her newfound wealth. “I still haven’t wrapped my brain around it,” she admitted.
From $20 to $1 million — and $200K on the same day in another state — it seems lottery luck is alive and well, hitting ordinary spots and turning everyday stops into life-changing moments.
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