Michigan winner didn’t know they had the winning Powerball ticket

It's happened to everyone. You lose your keys, misplace your wallet, or forget where you left your cell phone. But have you ever misplaced a winning lottery ticket?

You may think that would be impossible, but it's exactly what happened to one woman in Michigan who carried a winning Powerball ticket in her purse for a month before realizing she had a six-figure fortune sitting next to her lipstick and breath mints.

Read on to learn how she finally found her ticket, where she bought it, and what she plans to do with her big prize.

Lost and found

It was just another gloomy February day in Michigan when Jennifer Horton looked through her purse and discovered a Powerball ticket that she had purchased a month ago but had forgotten to check. So, she decided to visit her local retailer to see if she had a winner.

Horton told the Michigan Lottery:

I forgot all about the ticket and found it in my purse about a month later. I scanned it at the store and got a message to visit the lottery office. When I realized it was a winning ticket of $150,000, I didn't believe it at first. I thought there was no way I spent $4 and won $150,000. It was a crazy feeling to be holding a ticket worth so much money!

She correctly picked four of the white numbers plus the Powerball number, which normally would have been worth $50,000, but because she chose to add the Powerplay multiplier to her ticket, the value of her win tripled. Horton said:

I buy Powerball tickets every once in a while. I don't usually play the Power Play, but when I was purchasing my ticket, the worker suggested adding it, so I did.

Horton says that she's planning to use the money to pay off her bills and to take her family on a vacation.

Her ticket was for the January 20 drawing, and the winning numbers were 16, 31, 34, 47, and 65, with a Powerball number of 10. She bought her ticket at the Marathon gas station in Mount Pleasant.

Power winner

It's been a strong year for Powerball players in Michigan, and 2024 started with a bang when a Great Lakes State player won an $842 million jackpot in the January 1 drawing. The only catch is that no one has stepped forward to claim the prize yet, and the winner has just over seven more months to step forward and collect it before their ticket expires.

The ticket was purchased from the Food Castel grocery store in Grand Blanc. The store owners will receive $50,000 for selling the winner's ticket, but they must wait for the prize to be claimed before they can receive their reward.

Jacob Nammoshi, whose father owns the store, says they have no idea who bought the winning ticket but hope it is a local because Grand Blanc is a “good community.” He also said that " it’s rewarding” to have sold the top ticket.

Social media maven

Jennifer Vackaro of White Lake didn’t hesitate to cash in her ticket when she won one million dollars from the March 2 drawing.

Vackaro didn’t have to search through her purse to know she was a winner. Instead, she checked social media. She purchased a Powerball ticket at the Andale Mexican Grill and Cantina in Commerce Township while having drinks with her fiance.

The next day, while scrolling through Facebook, she saw a post from the restaurant saying that they had sold a one-million-dollar jacket. Vackaro said:

I scanned my ticket on the Lottery app, and when $1 million came up on the screen with confetti, I couldn’t stop shaking. I called my daughters and my fiancé to tell them the good news. I haven't been able to eat or sleep because I've been so nervous and excited.

Two weeks after Vackaro’s big win, another Michigan player won one million dollars from the March 15 drawing by correctly picking the five white numbers: 12, 23, 44, 57, 61. This winner has yet to be identified. They purchased their ticket online from Schoolcraft.

Two weeks after this mystery winner cashed in, another Michigan player won one million dollars from the March 27 drawing with the numbers 37, 46, 57, 60, and 66. Their ticket was bought at Paris Spirits and Wine in Kentwood.

No word yet on whether they went back to the store and bought a bottle of champagne with their winnings.