"If he hadn't done that, who knows when, or if, I would have found out that I had won," said Bhavik Patel.
One Michigan man has his father to thank for annual payments of $25,000 for life.
Bhavik Patel, 29, of Kentwood said his father noticed a pile of lottery tickets on his son's desk while visiting and decided to start checking them.
His father realized that Patel's Lucky for Life ticket had matched all five numbers drawn on April 23: 07-12-20-27-48.
"I buy tickets and a lot of times I will forget to check them right away," Patel told Michigan Lottery officials. "My dad was in town visiting recently and saw a pile of tickets on my desk, so he started checking them.
"If he hadn't done that, who knows when, or if, I would have found out that I had won."
Patel claimed the prize at the lottery's Lansing headquarters Friday and chose to receive it as an annuity.
"Knowing I can count on this for the rest of my life gives me such a sense of security," he said.
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