Posted on 05/16/2026 4:49:40 AM PDT by 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.
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Well he never did say when they would hit!!
This is really crazy!!
I’d invest the money in some mutual funds and allow myself to live $10,000 better than I currently was.
So, I suppose MammiDami will try to claim these winnings as belonging to him and his New Yawk City happy hunting grounds.
So, after 30 years, he’s broken even??
Zoltar knows all but Mamdouchbag knows better. Gimme dat
a lot of people use the birthday numbers of family members
if their family members are over 30 years old then they are using numbers that are even older than this guy’s numbers
wow, i just can’t believe it, how is that possible? :)
Instead of gambling, if he had invested three bucks a week (3 Powerball drawings per week @ $1 a pop) starting in 1996, then doubling it in 2012 when the ticket price went to $2, and using 8% average annual market growth, he would have about $23,000 today. Total investment would have been about $6,864
Isn’t the point of happiness for most people, to not lose money?
In before the rage against demonic vending machines.
Invest?
This guy is no spring chicken. He doesn’t have a money problem anymore, he’s got to stretch that out as long as he can.
Pay off house? Hopefully that loan rate is higher than 7%, other wise, leave that mortgage alone, because that’s also covering escrow like taxes and insurance.
Zero out high interest stuff, and get into low tax liquid stuff like muni’ bonds to offset inflation.
The better way to go, if you can handle it, buy something that brings in cash, and will appreciate with or above inflation, and gives you write offs like depreciation, insurance, etc.
I wonder how much he spent in buying lottery tickets over 30 years? Assume he purchased only 1 ticket a day, at $1 per ticket, over 30 years. At 7% interest, it would be about $36,740.
The Michigan Powerball lottery only pays out about 63% of money taken in goes to prizes. On large prizes, a significant amount goes to taxes.
Powerball drawings are held every Monday, Wednesday and Saturday, $2 per ticket.........
“I’d invest the money in some mutual funds and allow myself to live $10,000 better than I currently was.”
money market, CDs or high-yielding oil ETFs ...
prudence would dictate such a strategy ... what percentage of adults in the USA are prudent?
If someone bet on the lottery three times a week for 30 years, chances are they are neither prudent nor a would be investor.
He may die broke, but he'll always be able tell the "story" when he's down at the VFW or the Moose.
Fortune cookies too!
Maybe worth paying attention to those numbers:
“One of the most notable incidents occurred on March 30, 2005, when 110 people won second-tier Powerball prizes—89 won $100,000 and 21 won $500,000—by playing the same five numbers: 22, 28, 32, 33, and 39 (with the Powerball number 42). An investigation revealed that all the winners had used numbers from fortune cookies manufactured by Wonton Food Inc.”
What would playing the same number 100 or 150 times a year for 30 years add up to? Bear in mind the price rise of tickets a few years back.
He didn’t win a million dollars. One million minus $320,000 in taxes equals $680,000.
The price of a Powerball ticket increased to $2 per play on January 15, 2012. This change doubled the previous standard price of $1, which had been in effect since the game’s establishment in 1992.
So starting in 1996, $1x3 per week, x 52 weeks per year x 16 years (to 2012) = $2496.
Then from 2012 to 2026 = 14 years @$6 per week, x 52 weeks = $4368 .
So not that much invested, assuming he played faithfully each and every drawing and just one ticket..............
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