A husband and wife from Annapolis, Maryland, won two $1 million Powerball prizes earlier this month.
They only won twice, because they mistakenly bought two tickets with the same numbers when they usually change them up.
They discovered they had won one winning ticket on April 2. During celebrations of their million dollar win, the couple saw a lottery publication announcing their local store had, in fact, sold two winning tickets.
They went back to check their tickets to see if they’d accidentally duplicated the winning numbers. And they had.
“He joked about it,” the wife said, speaking to the Maryland Lottery.
“He said, ‘I still have tickets to go through. What if I have the second million-dollar ticket?’”
“It was mind-blowing,” the father of two said. “I had no idea I doubled it.”
Scanning Winners
The couple have long employed the superstitious technique of filing away previous winning tickets and then using those winning numbers on fresh tickets when a big jackpot came around.
During this process, he twice scanned the same previously winning numbers. Meaning when they decided to buy a dozen tickets for the Powerball draw, the fortunate winning numbers were also duplicated in their new purchase.
“I looked at it and I went to the Powerball site,” he told Maryland Lottery Officials. “I saw the numbers and I said, ‘No!’”
The lucky couple said they plan to invest their winnings to build further wealth.
Two Times A Charm
These latest winners in Maryland join the enviable list of people who have defied massive odds to hit two big lottery wins in their lifetime.
Most recently, Wayne Murray, of Brooklyn, New York, won two $10 million lottery jackpots in the space of two years.
An earlier winner was Evelyn Adams. The New Jersey trailer park resident changed her lifestyle, somewhat, with two wins in the space of four months in 1985. However, she eventually gambled away most of her fortune in Atlantic City.
Over the years, a few others have also hit double jackpots. That’s including one New York man who purposefully bought two tickets of the same numbers.
Interestingly, they all pale in comparison to Joan R. Ginther of Texas. The former math professor of Stanford University hit four lottery jackpots between 1993 and 2018. The wins totaled $20 million.
Speaking of large lottery prizes, the previously unknown winning ticket holder of the recent $1.3 billion Oregon Powerball jackpot came forward this week.
David is an online casino expert who specializes in online slots and boasts over 10 years experience writing about iGaming. He has written for a wide range of notable publications, including eSports Insider and WordPlay Magazine.
David graduated Derby University with a BA Degree in English Literature and Creative Writing.
