Grocery shopping ends with 82-year-old man winning $2M on $20 ticket

LANSING, Mich. (WILX) -A routine grocery shopping trip certainly paid off for one Ingham County man. Hugh Leach, 82, bought the winning $20 Diamonds & Gold instant game at the Meijer on Hull Road.

“I buy a $20 ticket every two weeks,” said Leach, of Mason, in a release from Michigan Lottery. “When I finished up grocery shopping, I stopped at the Lottery machine and purchased a ticket on my way out. When I got home and finished unloading the groceries, I scratched the ticket. When I saw I matched ‘02′ for a $2 million prize, I thought: ‘Wait a minute. This can’t be right.’ I looked the ticket over a few more times and then said to my wife: ‘I think I just won $2 million!’ I called the Lottery the next day to confirm it was real and schedule an appointment to claim my prize.”

Leach opted to receive his prize as a one-time lump sum payment of around $1.3 million instead of the full amount in annuity payments. He says he plans to purchase a new car and a new lawn mower, finish up some home repairs, and invest the money.

“You see these types of things happen to other people, but you never think it will be you, so winning was a complete shock,” said Leach.

“Going to the grocery store to fill your pantry and finding out you also filled your bank account must be an incredible feeling!” said Lottery Commissioner, Suzanna Shkreli.

Michigan Lottery says players have won more than $19 million playing Diamonds & Gold, which launched in March. In 2023, Lottery players won nearly $1.8 billion playing instant games according to the Michigan Lottery.

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