After 20 Years, Lottery Club Wins 'Life-Changing' Jackpot

After 20 years of playing together, members of a Michigan lottery club are getting a massive payday—but it took them a while to find out about it. The Lunch Bunch Crew lottery club won the $1.85 million jackpot in the June 18 Lotto 47 draw and opted to take the lump-sum option of $1.2 million instead of an annual payout, the Detroit News reports. The winning ticket was bought in Tom's Market in Ortonville, around 20 miles southeast of Flint. Club members, who have chosen to remain anonymous, say the win will be "life-changing" for all of them, reports the Detroit Free Press.

"A co-worker and I started a Lottery club about 20 years ago," a club representative told the Michigan Lottery. "There are currently five of us in the club and we take turns purchasing a ticket each week." But over the years, they apparently fell out of the habit of checking the tickets regularly. "One day at work, a few of us saw an article about a winning Lotto 47 ticket that was sold in Ortonville and remembered we had never checked our ticket," the club representative said. "We texted the club member who had purchased it asking where she purchased the ticket and if she had checked it yet. When we got a reply from her saying she had not checked it, but purchased it at Tom’s Market, we knew right away." (More lottery stories.)