LANSING, November 22 – A Copemish resident is $2 million richer after winning the Michigan Lottery’s $20 Instant games grand prize drawing Friday night.

The win was a slam dunk for Sandra Graves, one of five finalists in the drawing which was conducted during halftime of the Detroit Pistons vs. Indiana Pacers NBA game at The Palace of Auburn Hills.

“We are thrilled to be able to present this $2 million grand prize to Graves and her family,” said Lottery Commissioner Gary Peters.  “I am looking forward to making even more Lottery players multi-millionaires!”

Other finalists in the drawing, whose names were drawn Friday, November 12, were Judy Kolomak of Minden City; Gregory Kolowich of Croswell; Lori Shinabarger of Greenville; and Gerietta Walker of Detroit.

Graves told Lottery officials that she couldn’t believe that she was one of the lucky five finalists in the $2 million drawing.  The 65-year-old Graves said that if she won, she had no immediate plans for her money, other than paying off some of her credit cards.  Graves purchased the $1,000 winning ticket that entered her into the finalist drawing at Copemish EZ Mart, 18866 Cadillac Hwy., in Copemish.

Kolomak purchased her winning ticket at Short Stop, 4404 Main St., in Port Hope; Kolowich bought his winning ticket at 7- Eleven, 1422 24th St., in Port Huron; Shinabarger purchased the $1,000 winning ticket that entered her into the finalist drawing at Greenville E-Z Mart, 115 E. Washington St., in Greenville, and Walker purchased her ticket at Superland Market, 17021 Schoolcraft, in Detroit.

The four finalists received a $5,000 appearance fee for participating in the live drawing Friday evening.

The $20 Instant games are different from most other Michigan Lottery Instant games because the top prize will be awarded through a drawing.  All $1,000 winning tickets for “Double Millions” and “$2,000,000 Jackpot” that were claimed before the close of business on Wednesday, November 10 were automatically entered into the finalist drawing.

All proceeds from the Lottery are contributed to the state School Aid Fund which supports kindergarten through 12th grade public education in Michigan.  In fiscal year 2004, the contribution was $644.5 million.

For additional information, please visit the Lottery’s Web site at www.michigan.gov/lottery.