A man won more than $400,000 on a lottery he didn't even know he'd entered

• A Michigan man won more than $400,000 in a lottery he didn't know he'd entered.
• He'd unwittingly been given draws in the state's 'second chance' lottery.

A Michigan man was the surprise winner of a $416,322 lottery prize — despite the fact that he didn't even know he had entered.

The 67-year-old man from Kalamazoo County, south of Grand Rapids, Michigan, was selected in a random draw on October 11, according to state lottery officials.

The man — who chose to remain anonymous — had unknowingly entered the state's Big Ca$h 2nd Chance Jackpot, officials said.

In that lottery, every $0.50 spent on a selection of other online games earns the player an entry into the draw.

"I play games online a lot, but I had no idea I was earning entries into a second chance giveaway when playing certain games," he told lottery officials.

Even then, he might have missed out.

"I saw an email from the Michigan Lottery saying I'd won a $416,322 second chance prize and I figured it was a scam email since I didn't enter a giveaway," he said.

Thankfully, he called them to check — and learned it was genuine. "I still can't believe this is real," he said. "It is a crazy feeling to win such a large Lottery prize!"

The second chance drawing takes place once a month, and has jackpots as large as $729,743.

The surprise winner says he plans to share the winnings with his family and put the rest into savings, lottery officials said.

This isn't the first time that someone almost missed out on a big lottery win.

In August last year, fellow Michigander Floyd Warstler almost forgot about a ticket he bought and left in his car for weeks. The ticket turned out to be worth $390,000.

And in another surprise win, in May, California's Ruby Evans believed she had won $2,000 in a scratch-off ticket that actually turned out to be worth $2 million.