LANSING, March 8, 2000 -- A lucky Michigan City, Indiana man’s persistence really paid off! After consistently playing the ages of his family members on the Lottery’s Keno game for several years, the 51-year-old man enjoyed a big payday -- the game’s top prize of $250,000!

The winner, who requested anonymity, said he was shocked to learn he had matched 10 of the Keno numbers drawn on Monday, February 28 -- 12-14-22-23-29-49-51-57-59-66.

"I saw the winning numbers in the Michigan City News-Dispatch newspaper," the winner said. "I drove to a store in Michigan to check the numbers one more time. Once they told me I had a winner I did a dance right then and there! I immediately called my wife at work and told her I was coming to get her because of a family emergency. I picked my wife up from work and didn’t tell here what was going on until we were on our way to cash the ticket in! We were both completely surprised."

When not working on model airplanes or collecting Star Trek memorabilia, the Michigan City man enjoys playing Michigan Lottery games. He added that he has been playing Lottery games for the past 10 years and he truly enjoys the wide variety of games offered.

The winning ticket was purchased at Busias Country Mart, 910 W. Buffalo Street, in New Buffalo. Prior to turning the winning ticket in at Lottery headquarters in Lansing, the winner kept it in a drawer in his house to ensure its safety.

The lucky man said he plans to use part of his winnings to pay off his mortgage, but hasn’t yet decided what he will do with the rest of it.

The winner said he truly enjoys playing Lottery games and he offered the following words of encouragement to other Lottery hopefuls: "Never give up! You never know when it’s going to happen!"

The Keno game is designed to appeal to players wanting better odds of winning a prize. To play Keno, a player selects 10 numbers between one and 80. The Lottery draws 22 numbers from the field of one to 80. Players win if they match six, seven, eight, nine or all 10 of the numbers on their ticket to the 22 drawn by the Lottery, or even if they match no numbers at all. A player matching 10 numbers wins $250,000; nine numbers wins $2,500; eight wins $250; seven wins $25; six wins $7 and matching zero numbers wins a free $1 instant game ticket.

Keno drawings are held every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday.

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