A Kalamazoo man had an “absent minded” afternoon at work after learning he’d won $250,000 playing the Michigan Lottery’s KENO! game.

Michigan Keno 250 000

A lucky Las Vegas local hit it big while playing a morning game of Keno on Wednesday. While at Boulder Station, the lucky guest won $250,000 while playing Game King Keno and hit a 10 out of 10. A Lansing woman, however, won a $250,000 prize playing the same set of numbers on Michigan Lottery’s KENO! It seems she took a piece out of Richard Lustig’s advice and it paid off. Richard Lustig is a seven-time lottery grand prize winner who also is famous for telling players to pick their own numbers and stick with them every time they play.

The lucky player, who chose to remain anonymous, matched 10 of the 22 numbers drawn Jan. 18. His winning numbers were: 09-23-24-31-40-41-50-59-61-68. He bought his winning ticket at the Meijer store, located at 8850 Shaver Road in Portage.

“I was on my lunch break from work the other day and found the KENO! ticket in my wallet,” said the player. “I scanned it and it told me to file a claim with the Lottery office, so I called the office and that’s when I found out I’d won $250,000!

Keno 250000

“Focusing was not an option at work. For the rest of the afternoon I was absent minded, wandering around with my head in the clouds.”

The 57-year-old player visited Lottery headquarters Monday to claim his prize. He plans to put his winnings in the bank while he works out how to best spend the big prize.

“I’ve had some hard time over the last several years. I lost my job and house when the economy was bad, and I’ve been working hard to get it all back,” said the player. “Winning is a relief because I won’t be worrying about living paycheck-to-paycheck any more.”

Keno 250 000

KENO! tickets may be purchased for $1. Players select 10 numbers from one to 80 for a chance to win prizes ranging from a free instant ticket up to $250,000. Drawings for the game take place at 7:30 p.m. seven days a week.