Michigan man wins Powerball using numbers he got out of Zoltar machine 30 years ago

Not The Bee ^ | May 16, 2026 | Mister Retrops

[Red Badger]

Michigan man Stephen Huesgen got a set of lucky numbers from a Zoltar machine 30 years ago and immediately started buying lottery tickets using them.

And in traditional midwestern fashion, he didn't let decades of failure persuade him to stop using his mystical digits. If Zoltar could fulfill Tom Hanks's wish to be big, surely it could fulfill Stephen Huesgen's wish to be rich.

And then, just like the in the movie, he woke up, and Zoltar had made him a wealthy man.

The man used a set of three-decade-old lucky numbers from an animatronic fortune-teller machine to score a $1 million Powerball prize. https://t.co/4NQA0s7uez— CBS Detroit (@CBSDetroit) May 13, 2026

‘The morning after the Powerball drawing, I saw an email from the Lottery, which is when I found out I'd won a $1 million Powerball prize. I yelled to my wife, "Is this real?" I don't think this is going to fully hit me until I cash the check,' Huesgen said.

And it's all well and good, except that Zoltar really stiffed Huesgen on inflation.

$1 million in 2026 money is only equivalent to $471,142.87 in 1996 money.

(Yes, 1996 was 30 years ago).

Still, that's not a terrible haul, and Huesgen aims to spend his money paying off his house, his car, going on vacation, and buying lots more Zoltar tickets.

[Red Badger]

How to have a million dollars and not pay any taxes:

First, get a million dollars..................