Ticket bought at Michigan porn shop worth $129M

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LANSING, Michigan (AP) — A group of friends and family is obscenely rich after winning a nearly $129 million jackpot with a lottery ticket bought at a Detroit-area porn shop. And some of the money will be devoted to sacred purposes.

Mike Greer, a member of the group, came forward Friday to claim the Powerball winnings on behalf of the others, who chose to remain anonymous. Greer — who said only that the group has more than two members and fewer than 100 — indicated some of the riches will be going to a church.

“The only thing I can assume is that the Lord trusted us to do certain things with the money that He bestowed upon us,” he said. “That’s the only thing that I can gather.”

Greer said he didn’t buy the ticket himself and doesn’t know whether it was purchased inside the Uptown Bookstore or at its outside, walk-up lottery window. And he said that among the group’s members, “nobody cares” where it was bought.

Many customers of the adult bookstore in a depressed section of Highland Park buy their lottery tickets without setting foot inside the place and getting an eyeful of its X-rated videos and magazines.

The group will take its winnings in a lump sum of $69.6 million instead of annual installments.

Greer, a 49-year-old from Farmington Hills, said he is self-employed in the digital imaging business. He would not give details on the others except to say that most are from the Detroit metropolitan area.

Separately, Steve Mays of Gladstone, Michigan, came forward to claim a Mega Millions jackpot worth $141 million. The retiree, who wouldn’t disclose his age, bought the ticket at a convenience store. He said he hasn’t decided what to do with his winnings, which he will take in 26 annual installments of $5.4 million.

“I’ve got a nice boat. I don’t need one of those,” Mays said. “I might need something to tow it.”

Copyright 2010 The Associated Press.