Another Six-Figure Win Lights Up The Michigan Online Lottery

Michigan’s online lottery has been a rousing success. In fact, it’s being touted as the gold standard for other states to follow.

One of the biggest factors of the iLottery’s success is the return to player (RTP) the state offers, with online tickets paying back an almost unheard of 87 percent.

With such a high RTP, Michigan’s online lottery has also created a high volume of big winners. The latest is an Oakland County woman who won $100,000 playing the Michigan Lottery’s 25 Card Cash game online.

“I was playing the 25 Card Cash game on my son’s laptop, and when I saw I won $100,000 I didn’t think it was real,” the woman, who chose to remain anonymous, told the lottery. “I had the strangest feeling come over me, it was like I died and came back to life!”

“I’m still in shock. I work two jobs to make ends meet, and this helps take a lot of pressure off my shoulders,” she added.

After claiming her prize, she said she plans to buy a home, share some with her parents, and take her children to Disney World.

Online lottery has been a success on all fronts

No cannibalization

Some feared online sales would cannibalize brick-and-mortar lottery retailers in Michigan. Thus far, that has not been the case. Early indications show the opposite is correct.

“There is no indication that the online games are affecting sales at our 11,000 retailers,” Michigan Lottery Director of PR Jeff Holyfield told Online Poker Report in 2015. “In fact, we continue to see sales growing in all channels.”

Around the same time, Holyfield told the Boston Globe, “There is zero indication that the online games have taken away sales from others. The indication is that it’s exactly the opposite.”

Growth

Speaking of growth, since Michigan’s online lottery launched in 2014, it’s grown by leaps and bounds each year:

• $18.5 million in net online profit in FY2014-15 off of $ 146,189,761 in sales.
• $48 million in net online profit in FY2015-16 off of $384,992,537 in sales.
• $97 million in net online profit in FY2016-17 (final sales numbers have yet to be reported).

The Michigan Lottery expects its online options to continue growing now that it has signed an agreement for Income Access to take over its affiliate program.

About the Michigan online lottery

The $100,000 win by the unnamed Oakland County woman isn’t the biggest prize Michigan Lottery players can win online.

Prizes of up to $500,000 await players for the iLottery’s 40+ different games with ticket prices ranging from five cents to $20. Online players can also win multimillion dollar jackpots playing Powerball, Mega Millions, Lotto 47, and Fantasy 5 online.

According to the Michigan Lottery, more than 718,000 players registered to play the Lottery’s online games since 2014.