A 54-year-old Wayne County man who played the same set of lottery numbers for four years won a $1.3 million Lotto 47 jackpot from the Michigan Lottery. The man, who wishes to remain anonymous, matched the winning Lotto 47 numbers in the Jan. 8 drawing: 04-08-17-28-36-43.

TAYLOR, Mich. – A Wayne County man won a $1.3 million jackpot playing the same set of numbers he’d played for four years. The 54-year-old winner chose to remain anonymous. He matched the winning Lotto 47 numbers drawn on Jan. 8, 2025: 04-08-17-28-36-43. He won the game’s $1.3 million jackpot.

“I gave the tickets to my wife to scratch, and since she wasn’t wearing her glasses, she handed one to me and asked: ‘What does this mean?’ as she pointed to the money bag symbol,” the winner told the Michigan Lottery. “I said ‘this’ is a really, really big winner!”

Ernest Rust was not looking at the prize amount incorrectly, Michigan lottery officials said in a Feb. 13 news release. He had hit the Mega Millions jackpot and won $1 million.