Talk about luck: Man mistakenly buys two identical lottery tickets, wins jackpots for both
$5,000 Welcome Bonus
- The 49-year-old said he bought the two $2 tickets online
- He took both the prizes as one-time, lump-sum payments
Lottery is a game where success or outcome is governed by chance. But there are many instances when the very meaning of lottery was redefined by extreme luck.
Let's first talk about a lottery incident that happened in the US state of Virginia in October. A man got lucky not once, not twice, not thrice, but 20 times.
William Newell, of Alexandria, had purchased 20 identical tickets for the same lottery drawing and won all 20 of them to bag a total prize of $100,000. (Rs 74 lakh).
He selected the numbers 5-4-1-1. And when he matched the ones drawn by the officials, the combination turned out to be the exact same. He won $5,000 for each ticket.
Just a few days before this, a couple from North Carolina received two six-figure cheques after bagging top prize in the North Carolina Education Lottery jackpot.
They received two separate winning cheques because the husband bought two tickets with the same numbers for the drawing and both of them turned out to be the winning ones.
Now, something similar has happened to a 49-year-old from North Carolina. The only difference is that he didn't intend to buy any lottery tickets.
Scotty Thomas of Fayetteville accidentally purchased two identical tickets for the same lottery drawing and ended up winning the jackpots for each of them.
He bought two $2 tickets online and won $25,000 a year for life with each ticket. During the claim, the 49-year-old decided to take both the prizes as one-time, lump-sum payments for a total payout of $7,80,000, reported UPI.
"I was just lying in bed watching a basketball game on TV, and I couldn't remember if I filled it out or not. I went ahead and filled it out again, and the next morning my son asked why there were two different amounts listed. I realized, 'I think I filled it out twice'," Thomas told North Carolina Education Lottery.
He said he plans to invest a part of the winnings in his business and use the rest to buy a house.
