An Indiana woman is $500,000 richer after winning money on a lottery ticket she received during a white elephant gift exchange.
25-year-old Emily Hickox said her cousin had purchased the Michigan Lottery "Detroit Lions instant game ticket" for their family gift exchange on Christmas.
She told the Michigan Lottery it was actually her dad who won the ticket during the game, while she had won the gift he brought. Her dad ended up wanting his own gift back — a flashlight — and that's how the lottery ticket ended up in her hands.
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“I scratched the ticket off on Christmas, which also happens to be my birthday, and thought I won $50,000. I downloaded the Michigan Lottery app and created an account to check the ticket on the app scanner. I was expecting to see $50,000, so when I saw the extra zero, I was speechless! I couldn’t comprehend that I’d just won $500,000!” Hickox said.
She told lottery officials she plans to buy a new car and invest the money as well as share some of it with her cousin who bought it and her parents.
The winning ticket was purchased at a Meijer store in Rockford, Michigan.
