MARQUETTE — A 42-year-old Gwinn woman recently had a life-changing experience after winning $500,000 on a scratch-off lottery ticket.

Gwinn’s Amanda Hughes didn’t realize that her life would change when stopping into the Kwik Trip gas station at the crossroads between Marquette and Gwinn recently.

“I don’t play scratch off tickets a lot, but I do buy one every once in a while,” said Amanda Hughes. “When I was at the store, I asked for the $20 Wild Time game, but they had sold out of it, so the clerk suggested 50X Wild Time.”

The stork clerk’s suggestion turned out to be a good one.

“When I scratched the ticket off and saw the prize of $500,000, I wasn’t sure if it was real at first. I thought I must not have read the instructions correctly, so I reread them and then went back into the store to scan the ticket and have the clerk look at it,” Hughes said. “It was surreal when I realized I really had just won $500,000.”

After making a trip to Michigan Lottery Headquarters in Lansing to claim her prize, Hughes said she plans to purchase a house and save the remaining money for her children.

“I still can’t believe this is real,” Hughes said. “This money is going to be life-changing for my family.”

Information gathered from a Michigan State Lottery press release. Randy Crouch can be reached at 906-228-2500. His email address is rcrouch@miningjournal.net.