Roger Roy did not rush to shout his news from the rooftops. The 61-year-old Ortonville resident waited until his wife got home before letting her know he was suddenly a seven-figure winner, after matching the five white balls in the April 29 Powerball drawing for a $1 million prize. He says the couple plans to tuck the windfall away as a financial cushion rather than splurge.
Roy learned about the life-changing amount in a way that was almost absurdly low-key: an email from the Michigan Lottery the day after the drawing urged him to log into his account. He keeps a Powerball subscription so he does not miss a draw, and the winning play came from a ticket he bought through his online Michigan Lottery account. "For now, we just plan to save it," Roy told ClickOnDetroit.
An unusually lucky night
The April 29 drawing was a big one nationwide. Two tickets split a $143.4 million jackpot, and dozens of other plays matched the five white balls for million-dollar payouts. Powerball reported that 62 Match 5 tickets were sold across multiple states and that common playslip patterns helped drive the spike in winners.
How claiming works and what winners should know
According to Powerball, Match 5 winners in most jurisdictions receive a set $1 million payout, and all advertised prizes are listed before federal and jurisdictional taxes are taken out. The game’s FAQ notes that "prizes must be claimed in the jurisdiction where the winning ticket was purchased," and that ticket expiration dates typically range from about 90 days to one year, depending on the lottery. Winners are advised to contact the Michigan Lottery to begin the claim process.
Roy’s choice to wait for his wife to get home kept the news private until they could react together, and the couple has not announced any headline-making purchases yet. Their quiet reveal is the local footnote in a drawing that created dozens of new millionaires around the country, Roy told ClickOnDetroit.
