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This competition offers a cash prize for guessing when the car will fall through the ice

The winner gets $1,500.

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Michigan residents are betting on when this car will fall through the ice (Rotary Club of Iron Mountain-Kingsford/PA)

Fancy playing the lottery but don’t like your odds, or the random nature of who might win? Well a small city in Michigan might have the competition for you.

All you need to do is guess when the ice will break on a now-flooded old iron mining pit, letting a 1998 Saturn sedan plunge into its icy depths.

The Rotary Club of Iron Mountain-Kingsford’s car plunge contest is now in its fourth year.

Locals enter their guesses down to the minute, and a webcam watching the site at all times records when the Saturn finally falls in, so the winner can be decided and collect their $1,500 (£1,070) prize.

In past years the ice has finally succumbed to the car’s weight as late as April 4.

The sedan has also been adapted by local mechanics students, so it won’t upset the lake.

It has no engine, battery, radiator or any other oils or fluids that could contaminate the water.

And people first started putting cars on the ice and betting when they would fall through back in the 1940s.

If you want to try your chances in the modern environmentally friendly version of the game, three guess cost $10 (around £7) and all proceeds go to the rotary club’s local projects.

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