LANSING, MI — These days people are conditioned to be suspicious of notifications of lottery wins that unexpectedly arrive, so one could be sympathetic when a Michigan man first thought his real winner alert was a hoax.
The Kalamazoo man couldn't believe his luck. In fact, he didn't believe it at first.
Gunther Hega, 57, matched four of the five white numbers drawn — 1, 19, 31, 48, and 61 (the Powerball number was 6) — in the July 27 drawing, while also playing the Power Play option to multiply his prize.
But when he was alerted of the $100,000 win, he thought someone was trying to scam him.
"I play a little bit on the online draw games each week," Hega said. "I've won some small prizes, and usually get notified they were transferred to my account. On Sunday, I got an email saying I needed to visit the Lottery office to make a claim. At first, I thought it could be a hoax.
"After double checking my numbers, I realized what I was reading was the real deal: I had won $100,000!"
Hega bought his winning ticket online through the Michigan Lottery's website. Any Michigan resident can play over the Internet, rather than visiting a physical store location. Lottery tickets are available online for:
Hega visited lottery headquarters in Lansing last week to claim his prize. With his winnings, he plans on finishing some home repairs, donating to charity and saving the remainder.
"Winning makes everything easier. It's a relief to know that I can take care of some things at my home before I retire," Hega said.
Congratulations to Gunther Hega!! $100,000.00 definitely comes in handy.
Congratulations! In this day and age you can never be too careful.
Good for him doing Powerplay too.
Thanks for posting an online win. I am kinda skeptical with playing online. It doesn't feel as real as a ticket in-hand. Congrats enjoy the money.
The national lottery in my country is sending notification SMS'es telling me I have won on any of the lotteries they run. If the win is over 1000 NOK/ US$116 they will not say the amount I have won, in case some people are able to read my SMS'es on the phone. Then I'll have to log into the lottery's website to see the amount.
I get a notification from the KY Lottery even if just win a buck playing Online. But if he never won anything playing Online, he had good reason to be suspicious.