Michigan Player Wins $288,154 Bison Bonanza Jackpot on 50-Cent Play

A $0.50 play in the North Carolina Education Lottery’s Bison Bonanza Digital Instant game produced a $288,154 progressive jackpot for a player from Oxford, Michigan. The jackpot win came with odds of 1 in 62 million, making the prize an unusually large return on a single low-cost play.

The winning play took place on September 11, 2026. The North Carolina Education Lottery identified the winner as a Michigan player, creating a cross-state story involving a North Carolina lottery game and a ticket holder from outside the state.

Bison Bonanza is a progressive-jackpot Digital Instant game. The game’s jackpot is therefore described by the lottery as a progressive prize rather than a fixed jackpot amount. At the time of the lottery’s report, the Bison Bonanza progressive jackpot was listed at more than $110,000.

The eventual prize was $288,154. That amount was won through a play costing just $0.50, putting the cost of the play and the size of the prize at sharply different levels. The official account did not provide additional details explaining how the progressive jackpot reached the amount awarded to the Michigan player.

The odds attached to the jackpot were 1 in 62 million. That figure applies to the jackpot outcome in the Bison Bonanza Digital Instant game and is the specific probability reported for the winning result. It also distinguishes the jackpot from the broader experience of playing the game, because the verified odds concern the top prize.

The winner traveled to North Carolina lottery headquarters on September 21, 2026, to claim the prize. That visit occurred 10 days after the winning play, and it marked the point at which the jackpot was formally claimed through the lottery.

After state and federal tax withholdings, the winner received $207,500. The post-withholding amount was lower than the advertised jackpot of $288,154 because the lottery reported the payout after both types of withholding had been applied. The official figures identify both the pre-withholding jackpot and the amount received after those deductions.

The North Carolina Education Lottery also reported raising more than $13 billion for education over a 20-year period. That education-funding figure provides the lottery’s broader financial context alongside the individual Bison Bonanza win, although it is separate from the $288,154 jackpot and the $207,500 post-withholding payout.

Readers seeking current information about North Carolina lottery games can visit the latest North Carolina lottery results page. The Bison Bonanza win itself occurred on September 11, while the prize claim took place at lottery headquarters on September 21.