Michigan Man Who Dismissed Email from Lottery as $5 Prize Discovers He Actually Won Nearly $5 Million

A Michigan man got the surprise of a lifetime when he opened an email from the state lottery.

The 52-year-old man from Macomb County, Michigan, who has chosen to remain anonymous, told Fox 2 Detroit he started playing Lotto 47, Michigan's online lottery that costs just $1 to enter, about one year ago.

"I've gotten prize notification emails from the Lottery before for prizes of $5 or $100, so when I got one after the drawing, I assumed I'd won one of those amounts," the man said.

But this time, he opened his email to find that he'd won the $4.57 million jackpot, and he "didn't believe it was real at first."

"I showed my wife the prize amount and we were both taken aback. It has taken a while for us to wrap our head around it," the man said.

The man chose to receive a $3.1 million lump sum payment, which he plans to use to donate to charities and take his family on vacation. He said he will save the rest.