Photo from Palace Casino website. Tyler Morris of Montague holds a large facsimile check for the over $7.2 million he won at a Biloxi, Mississippi casino on Feb. 15.

Casino officials tell the Sun Herald (http://bit.ly/Ut0oq4 ) that Tyler Morris of Montague, Mich., won the jackpot Friday after attending his friend’s funeral.

Morris hit the jackpot between 10 p.m. and 10:30 p.m.

The Lord of The Rings: The Fellowship is a Mississippi statewide progressive penny slot machine with a maximum bet of $3.50. The WMS Gaming-manufactured slot machine’s progressive jackpot resets at $200,000.

According to the Palace Casino wessite, Tyler M. of Michigan won $7, 217,175.15 playing The Lord of The Rings: The Fellowship progressive penny slot machine at Palace Casino Resort on Feb. 15.

Morris, who typically plays craps, felt compelled to try his luck on the penny slot machine in memory of a friend whose funeral he attended earlier in the day. Morris stated his friend enjoyed playing penny slots at the Palace, so he chose to visit the casino and play penny slots.

When asked what his first thought was after realizing he had won over $7 million dollars, Morris said he felt his friend was watching over him and had blessed him with the big win. Morris’ wife, Mary, commented they would pay off the new car they had just purchased earlier this week in order to be able to make the trip to the Mississippi Gulf Coast. They were concerned about driving their previous car such a long distance because it had been driven over 200,000 miles. Beyond paying off their new car, Tyler and Mary said they will spend some of the money on their children, granddaughter and their soon to be new grandbaby, and repair the roof of their weathervane and house number manufacturing business.