A Look at Michigan’s Lottery Wins From 2000 to 2021
According to Michigan Lottery, Michigan has had 13 big lottery winners since the year 2000. These 13 wins totaled just shy of $3 billion in total winnings.
So, with the Michigan 2020 Census showing Michigan's population at just over 10 million, it seems like the state collectively could put their heads together and find some sort of pattern to these huge wins. After all, if two heads are better than one, then 10,000,000 are way better.
Let's Look at the Facts
It's been said that 'good things come in threes.' So, the following image shows the color-coded wins in sets of threes, starting with the earliest Michigan win in 2000 and working its way to the latest Michigan win in 2021.
1) The first 3 wins (in red) came from Shelby Twp, Port Huron, and Livonia. This shows us that the Southeast portion of the state was a lottery winning hot spot between 2000 and 2008. Included in this was the $208 million won in Port Huron in 2005.
2) Wins 4, 5, & 6 (in pink) show us that, although the Southeast portion of the state was still a hotspot, it was also possible to win in the Upper Peninsula, right there in Gladstone. This was exciting news to the Yoopers, as the man walked away with $141 million, but frustrating to those down below who anticipated their next big win. Luckily, these three big wins all happened within the two-year window between 2010 and 2011. Because of this, I would assume that many considered the U.P. win to be a fluke.
3) The third group of wins, 7, 8, & 9 (in yellow) proved that the state's Southeasterners were still on the right path, as between 2012 and 2014 there were winners in Lapeer, Troy, and Port Huron. The Lapeer man walked away with a whopping $337 million in 2012. This made 8 out of the past 9 big Michigan Lottery winners from the lower thumb region of the state. And almost proved that the only way to hit the lottery in Michigan was to move right there.
Until 2015
5) Michigan lottery wins 10, 11, and 12 (in green) threw the state for a loop. Win #10 came from the Southwestern city of Three Rivers in 2015 at $310 million, followed by win #11 coming out of the Northwest as Sutton's Bay claimed their first big win in 2019 with $80 million. This was likely almost enough to get people in the former Southeastern Hotspot to shift their strategy. But, in 2020, Waterford's win brought the lucky streak back home to the thumb.
The last big Michigan Lottery win, and it was $1.05 billion big, was out of Novi in 2021. This leaves two more Big Wins to come up next in this future group of three.
So, with all of the clues above, there is no way us Michigan residents can't figure out the method to the madness of winning the big one in our home state. I am no mathematician, but it seems if we triangulate the past Michigan wins by location, multiply the total mileage separation by the coordinates of the odd numbered wins, carry the ones, and have all Michigan residents click our heels simultaneously 3 minutes before the next big drawing... it's a no-brainer.
Even if you divided the almost $3 billion won in Michigan by the 10 million Michigan residents, that's approximately $300 per person. So even if we all figure out the winning algorithm together on the same day, we still win something!